As 2 of my three selections fell last night, the final of which again arrived in frustrating fashion, I could not regain my momentum from a 2-0 Wednesday night.
The night got off to a nice start because Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning went back-and-forth ahead of the match needed a shootout with the 2 clubs. The Lighting acquired a Steven Stamkos goal late while Andrei Vasilevskiy stood tall because we hit the Lighting at chances.
The night went downhill from that point. After becoming the first goal of the match, the Winnipeg Jets will permit the 3 markers and proceeded to lose their third straight home game. The offense isnt clicking at this time and I was bitten by it upon two of the three nights.
Because the total went thanks — you guessed it — an empty-netter, Eventually, my very final pick of the night between Coyotes and the Predators lost. We sat with a push late into the third stage however a Carl Soderberg empty-netter sealed our destiny and gave us losing night during the last three.
It has been a back-and-forth week to this point, but lets go into the weekend on a high note at Chicago Blackhawks from the United Center in Chicago and a matchup between the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Season Record: 6-7
Units: -1.85
Odds courtesy of Bovada
Blue Jackets vs. Blackhawks Betting Odds:
Blue Jackets (+120)
Blackhawks (-140)
Over 6.5 (-105)
Under 6.5 (-115)
Blue Jackets vs. Blackhawks NHL Select
Because the Blackhawks and also Jackets butt heads from the United Center, its a rare meeting in the Windy City tonight.
Columbus enters this one riding high after winning successive 3-2 games over Stars and the Hurricanes, a much-needed mini win streak after falling three of those first four games of this year. The team of john Tortorella has to prove after losing Matt Duchene, Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky along with Ryan Dzingel to free agency in the offseason. Naturally, theyve been much better.
Scoring targets remains an issue. The Blue Jackets enters this one tonight tied for 28th with only 2.33 goals per game on the season and if they have been improved against a few poorer offenses within the past few games, they have still allowed 3.33 goals per match on the back end. Goaltending was an issue so far following GM Jarmo Kekalainen decided against updating the goaltending position after Bobrovskys departure, rather handing the keys. It appears the beginning of tonight will go to Elvis Merzlikins that has made just another start this season, while Korpisalo has been much better of late.
Needless to say, said start didnt go well. Merzlikins was torched from the Pittsburgh Penguins to the song of seven goals on 40 shots, so great to an .825 Sv% within his NHL debut. We do understand that he put in some wonderful work from the Swiss-A league for a few seasons prior to taking his talents overseas while we do not know about Merzlikins in an NHL perspective. Merzlikins posted a good .921 Svpercent in Switzerland in each of the last two seasons he found out that the NHL is a whole new ball game.
Merzlikins will have to deal with keep what is a gifted Chicago Blackhawks offense at bay in this one. They have reach their stride this season because they sit despite the spike in October scoring with an three goals per match, however keep in mind this was the league offense from a year ago. The quarter of Dylan Strome, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Alex DeBrincat must get the Blackhawks back to the top 10 this year while Erik Gustafsson is the sudden one of their very profitable defensemen in the league from an offensive perspective.
On the rear end, the Blackhawks have been decent whilst allowing 3.25 goals per match, a number that places them right in the middle of the league. However, its been their penalty kill that has hurt them the most as they rank 30th having an awful 61.5% mark over the PK, nevertheless for tonight that the fantastic thing is the Blue Jackets power play has scuffled a tiny bit with a 16.7% roster, great for a share of 23rd alongside the Vancouver Canucks.
In four matches played this year, the Blackhawks have allowed just six even-strength targets against. Their blueline was updated in the Hurricanes using Olli Maatta from the Penguins and Calvin de Haans trade acquisitions from the offseason from a defensive standpoint. The hope is that the Blackhawks could be considerably improved in their defense in the season ago.
They also updated their goaltending position in the offseason with Robin Lehner whos coming off a Vezina-nominated season with the New York Islanders. Lehner has made just 1 start this year, but will really get beginning number two against these Blue Jackets. Lehner allowed three goals on 33 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Despite getting most of his notoriety past year, Lehner has ever been a very good goaltender during his nine-year NHL profession as he possesses a .918 Svpercent for his career and has been at .920 or greater in 3 of their four seasons. For winning teams while with the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres he justnt played. To me, there is hardly any doubt about who has the goaltending benefit in this one.
All told, I am on the Blackhawks tonight. They snapped an season-opening three-game losing streak with a rock-solid 3-1 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers that were white-hot , handing them their first loss of the year in the procedure. They outshot the Oilers 35-28 in that you. I like the looks of the offense and I cant help but believe that they have a large opportunity tonight after being torched in his only appearance this season, with no goaltender who can not be playing with much confidence. Theyve scored three or more goals in every match this season, but I guess they are easily able to eclipse that mark.
The Blue Jackets are better lately, particularly but protecting the Blackhawks at the United Center could be a difficult undertaking and I believe that the Blackhawks offense is about to split out. That wont be great news for Elvias Merzlikins and Co. as Im carrying the Blackhawks to win this one on the moneyline tonight.

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