Ducks at Blues Preview and Betting Pick
The Anaheim Ducks face off against the St. Louis Blues tonight, here’s your Ducks at Blues preview.
The Anaheim Ducks rank as the second-worst team in all of Hockey just ahead of the Buffalo Sabres. With that being said the Blues and Ducks have faced off in four games this season with the Blues winning all four. In the first two games of this season series, the Blues outscored the Ducks 10-2 winning both games dominantly. The next two games were much closer, but the Ducks still lost. As the season progresses it seems that this is a matchup that continues to get more lopsided.
Right now the Ducks have three players that are questionable for Friday’s game due to Covid-19 protocol. Covid-19 has had an interesting effect on sports as it seemingly can eliminate players from the lineup in a way teams never had to worry about before. The Ducks might be heading into this game shorthanded.
Blues Struggles
Coming into Friday’s game the Blues have lost six of their last eight games. St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington was expected to be a free agent heading into free agency this offseason. Binnington signed a six-year extension with the Blues worth $36 million proving that both sides are committed to being together for the foreseeable future. Blues goalies have allowed an average of four goals per game the past eight games, a major reason why they have struggled.
St. Louis needs to become better on the defensive side of the ice and the goalies need to play better because no matter how talented your team is allowing four goals a game is a tough deficit to climb out of. The Blues are in striking distance for a playoff spot, but they will need to figure things out rather quickly as we are past the halfway mark on the season.
Top Players
For Anaheim, center Rickard Rakell has been one of a few bright spots for the Ducks this season. Rakell leads the Ducks with 21 points on the season and 15 assists. The Blue’s top player is left-wing David Perron this year and he has dominated in many different statistical categories. Perron leads the Blues in points with 32, has 12 goals and 21 assists. Perron has been the driving force of this team and is a major reason they have been a contender.
Last Five Games
Ducks (1-4)
The Ducks have simply been bad all season and that has carried over to the past five games that this team has played. Entering Friday the Ducks will be on a three-game losing steak with not much confidence at all playing against a much better Blues team that has done very well against them.
Blues (2-3)
(St. Louis has a game against Minnesota Thursday Night)
The Blues started the season doing very well competing for one of the top seeds in the West Division. Since then St. Louis has stumbled dropping themselves to fourth in the division behind Vegas, Colorado, and Minnesota. St. Louis cannot afford to lose this game.
Ducks at Blues Preview: Odds & Pick
Ducks Moneyline +188
Blues Moneyline -230
Prediction: Blues Moneyline
The season series (Blues 4-0) says it all heading into this game. St. Louis is the much better team and they are going to show it once again. Keep in mind that St. Louis is going to be playing a back-to-back previously playing against Minnesota, but Anaheim is exactly the team you want to finish off back-to-back. You might think that after winning the first four games of the series the Ducks are due for a win, but the Ducks only have nine wins in the entire season. Don’t overthink this one. Blues Moneyline.
