The Anaheim Ducks will be looking for their second straight victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. Anaheim defeated St. Louis on Friday, 4-1. That snapped a three-game losing streak for the Ducks.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at the Enterprise Center. St. Louis is favored at -233. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts the odds for Anaheim at +205 as the underdog.
For Anaheim, defenseman Jamie Drysdale is listed as questionable after suffering an upper-body injury in the last contest. Right-wing Alexander Volkov went on Covid-19 protocols. St. Louis lost center Oskar Sundqvist with a torn ACL a week ago.
Gibson Has St. Louis Crying the Blues
John Gibson stopped 33 shots as Anaheim defeated St. Louis, 4-1. After a scoreless first period, the Ducks scored two goals in the second then added two more in the third. Four different players scored goals for Anaheim including Rickard Rakell.
Anaheim is 29th in goal scoring at 2.20 per contest. They are 28th in the NHL in shooting percentage at 8.0% and the team is 30th on the power-play at 11.3%. Rakell now leads the team with 15 assists and 22 points. Max Comtois is the leading goal scorer with 10.
The Ducks are allowing 3.26 goals per game, 26th overall. They are 23rd in the league at killing penalties at 76.0%. It will likely be Ryan Miller between the pipes on Saturday. Miller is 3-7-1 with a 3.48 GAA and a .880 save percentage.
Binnington Looks to Rebound
Jordan Binnington allowed two goals on 22 shots in the loss to Anaheim. Ryan O’Reilly had the only goal of the game for St. Louis.
St. Louis is averaging 2.82 goals per game, 17th overall. They are 17th in shooting percentage at 9.6%. The Blues are 24th on the power-play at 18.2%. David Perron leads the team in points with 33. He is tied for the team lead in goals with 12 and tied for the team lead in assist with 21. O’Reilly is second on the team in points with 32 and is tied with Perron for the team lead in assist.
The Blues are allowing 3.18 goals per game. They are 26th at killing penalties at 74.3%. Binnington will likely go on Saturday, so it will be Ville Husso between the pipes on Sunday. Husso is 6-3-1 with a 3.40 GAA and a .85 save percentage. He has allowed 15 total goals in his last five starts.
Trends:
Anaheim:
- 7-21 in their last 28 games.
- 3-7 in their last 10 games against teams with a losing record.
St. Louis:
- 65-25 in their last 90 games against teams with a winning percentage below 40%.
Anaheim got a big victory on Thursday, but they had lost the previous six meetings between these teams. However, the Ducks are 5-1 in the last six meetings in St. Louis. They have played very well on the road in Missouri and should be given some credit for that. However, I look for a big Blues rebound in this game.
Pick: Take St. Louis at -233.
The Total:
With backup goalies going in this contest and neither playing particularly well this year, I look for the over. This game should be much closer to seven goals and could go even higher. The trends point to the under, but this matchup is going to end up something like 4-3 or 5-3.
Pick: Go over 5.5 at -110.