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Posted at 12:30 PM EST
Game 2
Vancouver -½ +240 over St. Louis
6:30 PM EST. Yes, we have our concerns regarding the Canucks being able to duplicate what they did in Game 1 and that was outscore the Blue Notes 5-2. Thing is, the Canucks don’t have to duplicate it. In fact, we wouldn’t want them too because in Game 1, late at night when most of the world was sleeping and not watching, St. Louis outplayed the Canucks and still lost by three goals. What will happen if the Blues don’t outplay the Canucks tonight?
In Game 1, the Canucks didn’t generate a single shot on goal with the Elias Pettersson line on the ice during 5-on-5 play, plus he was scored on. What if the Lotto Line does what it’s been doing all year in Game 2? It would seem to us that the Blues are a good matchup for the Canucks because they aren’t a quick-strike transition team that will burn you with their pace. It’s the heavy and physical style where every inch has to be earned that suits the Canucks better than the exhilarating, back-and-forth trading-chances style the club might have been goaded into playing against Vegas or Colorado. It particularly suits the slower bottom-six, plus some of Vancouver’s veteran defenders like Alex Edler and Tyler Myers. Vancouver has allowed few odd-man rushes after the first game against Minnesota, but the key is that they’ve done so while maintaining an aggressive forecheck.
Jacob Markstrom is not having to steal games as he did in the regular season. He hasn’t had to be Superman yet. But with the skaters in front of him looking so much better, Markstrom has quietly stopped pucks earning a .928 save percentage. Based on the quality of shots faced, Markstrom ranks sixth among goalies in saving 1.7 goals above expected in the playoffs. Is that good? It’s been good enough to win four straight while St. Louis’ goaltending has been inconsistent. Game 2 has proven to be very difficult to win for the Game 1 victors (See TB, Vegas, Bos, Calgary) and it figures to be just as difficult for the Canucks. However, Vancouver has some swag going on and we cannot expect another no output game from the Canucks top line. In what appears to be a 50/50 proposition, we have to pull the trigger here on Vancouver.
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Our Pick
Vancouver -½ +240 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 4.80)