NHL Picks: The St. Louis Blues host the Buffalo Sabres on NBCSN and the Minnesota Wild visit the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. The home teams will be favored in these two contests that could be low scoring considering the Blues and Wild are two of the top defensive teams in the league. Let’s look at both games and NHL picks.
Buffalo Sabres at St. Louis Blues (NBCSN)
Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning. The Sabres are one of the worst teams in the NHL. They have been pathetic on offense as they are scoring just about a goal per game. Their defense and goaltending haven’t been that bad but when you score just one goal per game and allow three goals per game you aren’t going to win many games. The Sabres are 2-5 on the road this season. Five of those seven games went under the total.
The Blues have been winning thanks to a defense that is allowing less than two goals per game. They are scoring about 2.3 goals per game but that number should improve as they recently got Paul Stastny back into the lineup.
Series Notes
The Blues have won 8 of the last 10 in this series including the last four. The Blues won 4-1 in Buffalo last year and 2-1 in St. Louis. The Blues have taken three of the last four at home in this series with two of the last three going over the total.
Minnesota Wild at New Jersey Devils
The Wild have been really good defensively this season as they have been in the top five in the league in fewest goals allowed. They have been allowing two goals per game. The offense has been better than expected this season as Minnesota is scoring more than three goals per game. The Wild went under the total in seven of their first 11 games. The Devils have been averaging just under three goals per game while allowing almost three goals per game which has meant they have been very inconsistent with a record right around .500.
Series Notes
The Wild have won three of the past four in this series but New Jersey did win 4-3 at home last season. The Devils have won three of the last four at home in this series with three of the last four in New Jersey going under the NHL betting total.
NHL Predictions
We’ll go with both of the home teams on Tuesday night and also play both games under the total.
