Monday’s lone NHL contest will feature two teams looking to end losing spells as the Winnipeg Jets (31-19-1) host the St. Louis Blues (23-24-3).
The Jets have already picked apart St. Louis twice this season and bookmaker BetOnline sees this being another blowout win for the home team as the odds for a Winnipeg victory are at -210. The odds are at +188 for the Blues to win and the goals total is at 6.0 with the odds for both the over and under at -105.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: January 29th, 6:30 P.M. (EST)
Winnipeg has enjoyed a very successful campaign, but the team has hit a wall ahead of the All-Star break with three consecutive losses. Rick Bowness’ men couldn’t even muster any goals in their last outing against Philadelphia on Saturday. It was the second time this season the Jets got shut out.
Seeing the offense struggle must be raising plenty of questions among the Jets fans as the team actually averages 3.18 goals per game and has some of the league’s most consistent scorers on the roster. There are six players who are averaging a point per game for the season or are near the pace.
Based on how the season has been going, Monday’s match-up should be a great one for working on goal-scoring. The Blues have been poor defensively all year and sit on a 3.60 goals-against average, which is the seventh-worst in the league. The team heads to Winnipeg having conceded at least four goals in all outings during its four-game losing streak.
To make matters worse, St. Louis lost one of its best players to injury over last weekend when Robert Thomas skipped Saturday’s game against Colorado with a lower-body problem. He’s the team’s second-best scorer with 43 points in 48 games, and Thomas’ injury is another blow for the Blues’ center depth after captain Ryan O’Reilly was ruled out for multiple weeks at the start of the month with a broken foot.
Winnipeg won the first two head-to-head games this season with a combined score of 9-2 and has now triumphed in the regular-season series in five consecutive games. The Blues have scored only eight goals in total during the losing skid and badly need to get some offense Monday if they want to avoid having their first-ever six-game run without a win against Winnipeg.
