In their second head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights take the ice at T-Mobile Arena. This Western Conference matchup gets started at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 4, and it’s being shown live on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.
St. Louis Blues at Vegas Golden Knights Odds
St. Louis is 26-16 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 7.5 units this year. 22 of its matches have gone under the total, while 19 have gone over and none have pushed. The Blue Notes are 13-9 SU as the road team in 2019-20.
St. Louis has converted on 24.2 percent of its power play opportunities this year, a mark that’s good enough for fifth-best in the league. Its penalty kill is ranked 12th overall, and it has successfully killed off 81.9 percent of all penalties.
St. Louis, as a collective unit, has been called for penalties just 3.4 times per game overall in the 2019-20 season, and 4.2 per game over its last five on the road. The team has had to kill penalties just 7.6 minutes per game over their last 10 outings.
With a .916 save percentage and 27.4 saves per game, Jordan Binnington (19-11-4) has been the primary option in goal for St. Louis this season. If it decides to give him a rest, however, St. Louis may turn to Jake Allen (7-7-2), who has a .931 save percentage and 2.17 goals against average this year.
David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly will both spearhead the attack for the visiting Blues. Perron has 40 points on 16 goals and 24 assists, and has recorded two or more points in eight different games. O’Reilly has eight goals and 27 assists to his credit (and has registered at least one point in 22 games).
On the other bench, Vegas is 23-21 straight up (SU) and has lost 9.6 units for moneyline bettors this year. Through 44 regular season outings, 21 of its games have gone over the total, while another 21 have gone under and just one has pushed. It’s 13-10 SU at home this season.
Vegas has converted on 22.6 percent of its power play opportunities this year, a mark that’s good enough for ninth-best in the league. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 12th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 82.1 percent of all penalties.
The Golden Knights have been penalized 3.9 times per game this season, and 4.6 per game over their last five home outings. The team has been forced to stave off opponent power plays 11.4 minutes per game over their last five home outings.
Marc-Andre Fleury has denied 27.8 shots per game as the top netminder in the crease for Vegas. Fleury has 17 wins, 12 losses, and three overtime losses and has maintained a mediocre 2.76 goals against average and a .912 save percentage this year.
The Knights offense will be led by Max Pacioretty (18 goals, 25 assists).
St. Louis Blues vs. Vegas Golden Knights Betting Predictions
NHL Tip: SU Winner – Golden Knights, O/U – Over
Betting Notes
- The Golden Knights are 5-3 in games where they outshoot their opponent by 10 or more. They’ve averaged the league’s fifth-most shots on goal (34.1) while the Blues have attempted the 24th-most (only 34.1).
- The Blues are 12-3 when they serve fewer penalty minutes than their opponent and 21-10 in games where they serve fewer than 10 penalty minutes, in total.
- Vegas is 3-0 in games decided by a shootout this season while St. Louis is 0-3 in shootouts.
- One of the best at pressuring their opponents, Vegas is ranked 1st in the league this season with 9.6 takeaways per game. That figure’s trended lower recently, however, as it has averaged 9.0 takeaways over its last 10 games and 9.0 takeaways over its last five.
- St. Louis has averaged 7.2 takeaways per game over its last five road games, its season average of 7.6 takeaways per game (ranked 16th in the league).
