The Vegas Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues jostle for Western Conference playoffs seeding in the second round-robin game for both teams Thursday at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m. ET. We analyze the Golden Knights-Blues NHL betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Golden Knights vs. Blues: Projected starting goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury vs. Jordan Binnington
Fleury is expected to return to the net Thursday after Robin Lehner drew a bit of a surprise start in Game 1 against the Dallas Stars. Fleury went 27-16-5 with a .905 save percentage and 2.77 goals against average in the regular season. He owns a .911 SV% and 2.59 GAA in the playoffs for his career.
It’s fairly safe to assume there’ll be no change in net for the defending cup champs Thursday. Binnington stopped 36 of 38 shots on goal in the disappointing opening loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
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Golden Knights vs. Blues: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Thursday at 8:00 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Blues 4, Golden Knights 1
Moneyline (ML)
The BLUES (+100) are the play as a discounted even-money underdog. Sure, they lost their opener, but it should have at least gone to overtime if not for a dying-second goal for the Avs. The Golden Knights (-118) used a four-goal third period to get by the Stars in their first game of round-robin play.
The Blues will be well aware of the fact the Eastern Conference’s top seed in the Boston Bruins lost that right with two losses to open the round robin. The champs will feel the extra motivation to stay atop the west and deploy a more aggressive attack on offense.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
Go to the alternate lines and back the BLUES -1.5 (+275) for an even greater profit. The Golden Knights (-1, +150) won the regular-season series 2-1, but those two victories came in overtime and a shootout. The Blues’ lone win was by a 4-2 margin in the series opener.
Over/Under (O/U)
Despite predicting a multi-goal win for the Blues, I’m taking the UNDER 5.5 (-129). They’ll bring a sound team effort into their important second game in order to avoid losing their top seed to the Golden Knights or Avalanche. Binnington will outduel the veteran Fleury.
Esten’s NHL betting record: 12-9
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