Vancouver Canucks (39-28-6) at St. Louis Blues (42-21-11)
NHL Hockey: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 10:30 pm (Rogers Place)
The Line: St. Louis Blues -154 / Vancouver Canucks +130 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues meet Wednesday in game one of the NHL West First Round at the Rogers Place.
The Vancouver Canucks are coming off a four-game series win against the Minnesota Wild. The Vancouver Canucks are averaging three goals per game and are scoring on 21.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Brock Boeser leads Vancouver with two goals, Quinn Hughes has five assists and Bo Horvat has 12 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vancouver Canucks are allowing 2.5 goals per game and are killing 86.4 percent of their opponents power plays. Jacob Markstrom has given up nine goals on 121 shots faced.
The St. Louis Blues have nowhere to go but up after losing all three of their round robin games. The St. Louis Blues are averaging two goals per game and are scoring on 8.3 percent of their power play opportunities. David Perron leads St. Louis with two goals, Ryan O'Reilly has three assists and Colton Parayko has 11 shots on goal. Defensively, the St. Louis Blues are allowing three goals per game and are killing 81.3 percent of their opponents power plays. Jordan Binnington has allowed eight goals on 76 shots faced and Jake Allen has allowed one goal on 38 shots.
The Canucks are 5-2 in their last 7 games playing on 3 or more days rest, 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog and 4-1 in their last 5 overall. The Blues are 9-3 in their last 12 games as a favorite, 5-2 in their last 7 Wednesday games and 7-3 in their last 10 vs. Western Conference. The over is 11-4 in Canucks last 15 overall. The under is 5-1 in Blues last 6 overall. The under is 33-15-9 in the last 57 meetings.
The Vancouver Canucks were comfortably the better team in the series against the Wild and did their thing on the offensive end, averaging three goals per game. The St. Louis Blues didn't have the easiest of round robin games, but they still came up winless in three contests and issues defensively is a bit concerning. Based on form, I'm not sure how you pass up plus money with the Canucks. It also doesn't hurt knowing the Canucks have won four of the last six meetings against the Wild.
Randy’s Pick Vancouver Canucks +130
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers
Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter @WizardOf0dds