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Posted at 11:05 AM EST.

OT included. The Blues will be playing their third game in four days and tail end of back-to-backs after they narrowly defeated the Oilers last night in Edmonton, 2-1. This three games in four days trip to Western Canada has been called the toughest “three in four” trip by players for years. Besides that, the Blues just are not in very good form. They were tooth and nails to defeat both Winnipeg and Edmonton by identical 2-1 scores. Prior to that, St. Louis had lost three of four with only victory over that span occurring against Boston in a game the Blues were outshot in 27-15. St. Louis has two PP goals in its past 11 games and 1 in its past seven. They’ve scored two goals or less in four straight. Over their last six games, the Blue Notes have been held to 29 shots on net or less in all of them and in three of those six they managed just 15, 23 and 27 shots on net. All of the Blues top producers are slumping at the same time and their defense and goaltending is playing average at best right now.

The Canucks are going to be faded by many because the “returning home from a trip” angle applies to them here after five straight on the East Coast. However, that angle hasn’t worked against the Canucks for years. The Canucks are 2-2 this year after returning home from a four-game trip or more and they were only out-chanced once in those four games. Over the past three seasons, the Canucks are 11-4 in the first game back of a trip but are much worse in the second game back so the fade would be better applied then. Vancouver is 7-4 over its past 11 games and has not lost consecutive games since the All-Star break. The Canucks are coming off a bad loss in Buffalo but that is of no concern, as they had a bad game in an unfavorable spot and it happens. Eddie Lack has provided outstanding goaltending for the Canucks as Ryan Miller’s backup and now as his replacement so that’s of no concern either. This late in the season there are a number of profiles that can be profitable, one of which is betting against moderate road favorites that are perceived as elite. That applies to the Blues here. St. Louis was elite for some time but they have been anything but for the past six weeks and we’ll look to take advantage of the market’s perception of them.