By Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome, and the New York Rangers will face off against David Perron, Ryan O’Reilly, and the St. Louis Blues at the Enterprise Center in an East-West tilt. Fox Sports Midwest will showcase the matchup, and the opening face-off is at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 11.
New York Rangers vs. St. Louis Blues Odds
The Blues (-205) are noticeably favored over the Rangers (+175), and the oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at an even 6 goals (-120 for the over, +100 for the under). Those O/U odds have shifted after initially opening at -115 over and -105 under.
Earning 7.5 units for moneyline bettors, St. Louis is 28-17 straight up (SU) overall in the 2019-20 season. That winning percentage, ranked third in the league in this young season, is an improvement over the 45-37 record from the 2018-19 season campaign. Among the team’s 45 games this season, 22 have gone under the total, while 22 have gone over and none have pushed. The team is 15-7 SU at home this season.
The Blues have converted on 25.2 percent of their power play chances this season, a mark that’s good enough for fourth-best in the NHL. On the other hand, their penalty kill is ranked 11th overall, and they’ve successfully killed off 81.7 percent of all penalties.
Sporting a .917 save percentage and 27.1 saves per game, Jordan Binnington (21-11-4) has been the top goalkeeper for the Blue Notes this season. If head coach Craig Berube decides to rest him, however, the team might go with Jake Allen (7-8-8 record, .924 save percentage, 2.36 goals against average).
Over on the visiting bench, New York is 21-22 straight up (SU) and has earned 6.0 units for moneyline bettors this year. A total of 21 of its games have gone over the total, while an additional 21 have gone under the total and just one has pushed. As a road team, the Rangers are 9-12 SU so far.
The Rangers have converted on 20.4 percent of their power play chances this year, a mark that’s right around league average. On the other hand, its penalty kill unit is ranked 20th overall and it’s successfully killed off 79.2 percent of all opponent power plays.
Henrik Lundqvist (29.3 saves per game) has been the primary option in the net for New York. Lundqvist has nine wins, 15 losses, and three OT losses to his credit, while registering a .910 save percentage and 3.10 goals against average this year.
New York Rangers vs. St. Louis Blues Betting Predictions
Free Pick: SU Winner – Blues, O/U – Under
Betting Trends
The Blues are 0-3 in games that go to shootout. The Rangers are 0-2 in shootouts.
For both of these teams, the over has hit in three of their last five matchups.
Over St. Louis’ last ten outings, six of them have been decided by two or more goals (the team is 4-2 in those games).
New York skaters created 26.0 hits per game last season, while the Blues posted 22.5 hits per matchup.
