Philadelphia Flyers vs St. Louis Blues - Odds and Predictions

Where: Enterprise Center – St. Louis, MO.

When: Wednesday, January 15, 8PM EST

How (TV/Radio): TVA, NBC Sports | WFAN

Philadelphia Flyers (Away)

Head Coach: Alain Vigneault{All-Time 672-451-35-104 PHI, NYR, VAN, MTL}

Sitting fifth in the Metropolitan Division, the Flyers have gone just 4-5-1 in their last ten. However, they have some momentum on their side as they are coming off of a hard-fought 6-5 shootout win over the Boston Bruins.

Check out who are the favorites to win the 2020 Stanley Cup.

Offense

This team has seen better days. The offensive core of the Philadelphia Flyers has been through hell over the past few weeks and there doesn’t seem to be a clear end to their suffering in sight.

Forwards Chris Stewart, Nolan Patrick, and Oskar Lindblom are all expected to miss this game against the St. Louis Blues.

The Flyers ranks in the middle of the league at 16th when it comes to goals scored and 15th when it comes to shots on goal. They also rank 15th in shooting percentage with a 9.7 percent.

Special teams have not been favorable, however, as their power play ranks just 19th in the NHL with a 18.95 percent. The Blues power play ranks within the top-five.

Defense

It’s tough to tell who’s more banged up at this point – the Flyers offense or the Flyers defense. Philadelphia will be coming into this game without star defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and other blueliners Justin Braun and Samuel Morin.

Outside of their injuries, the Flyers have been putting up respectable defensive numbers all season long. They have allowed the 12th-fewest goals against this season, which says a lot about a team that for years has struggled to find good goaltending.

This team has also allowed the second-fewest shots on goal. Unfortunately, this still adds up to a combined save percentage of just .897.

This Flyers team does take a lot of penalties (roughly ten minutes per game) but actually rank one spot ahead of the Blues when it comes to penalty killing. The Flyers are 11th in the league with an even 80 percent kill percentage.

Starting goaltender Carter Hart has also been listed as day-to-day and is expected to miss this game against the Blues.

Goaltending

Expect to see goaltender Brian Elliott between the pipes Wednesday night for the Flyers. The former St. Louis Blue has a season record of 9-5-3. His goals-against-average is 3.16 and his save percentage has been even less impressive at .896.

Head Coach: Craig Berube{All-Time 143-87-41 STL, PHI}

The defending Cup champions are showing no signs of slowing down since last season. Still sitting first among the Central division, the Blues are coming off of a 4-1 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks and have now won their last four straight.

Offense

The Blues are coming into this game with a plethora of advantages – including a healthy roster. St. Louis is still without forward Vladimir Tarasenko but that hasn’t seemed to hinder the team in the slightest.

St. Louis have scored the seventh-most goals in the league this season, 113 at even strength. Although not the highest-shooting team, they do have a combined shooting percentage of 10.7 percent, which is the league’s eighth-best.

St. Louis has a 25.74 percent success rate on the power play, which is the NHL’s fourth-best percentage, and they have scored a combined 35 goals with the man advantage.

Their only disadvantage comes in the faceoff circle, where the Blues rank fifth in the NHL (no small feat) with a 51.9 percent. They will be facing off against the league’s best faceoff percentage, however, as the Flyers sit with a 54.3 percent success rate at the faceoff dot.

Defense

St. Louis’ defense is tough to deny. The team has allowed the seventh-fewest goals against this season and their goaltenders have a combined save percentage of .915 – the fifth-best in the NHL.

The Blues will have their hands full when it comes to the faceoff circle and the shots against. Philadelphia has a better faceoff percentage and average more shots per game. This will make defensive zone faceoffs a must-win for St. Louis.

Their biggest defensive concern this season has been their penalty killing, where they rank 12th in the league with an 81.6 percent. They have allowed 25 power-play goals against. Luckily, they are the more disciplined team and manage to avoid the penalty box a lot more than their opponents.

Goaltending

St. Louis cornerstone Jordan Binnington is expected to start for St. Louis against the Flyers. Binnington has continued to shine since his call-up last season, going 22-7-4 this year with a GAA of 2.47 and a .917 save percentage. He has registered one shutout as well.

These two teams have not faced off since late last season during St. Louis’ surge into the playoffs. On April 4, the St. Louis Blues dominated the Flyers, winning by a final score of 7-3.

What’s at Stake?

Two different teams, two different conferences, two different goals.

For Philadelphia, they just want to stay afloat amidst the plethora of injuries.

These two points will mean more to Philadelphia as their chances of making the playoffs are still very much intact.

St. Louis can easily afford an ‘L’ at this point in the season. With that said, don’t anticipate St. Louis to take things lightly Wednesday night.

Questions to Answer

How badly beat up are the Philadelphia Flyers? Quite frankly, do they stand a chance in this matchup against the defending Stanley Cup champions?

How big of an effect will the loss of goaltender Carter Hart, specifically, have of the Flyers lineup? Backup goaltending has hardly been reliable for the Flyers this season.

Philadelphia is 9-13-2 on the road this season. St. Louis is 17-4-3 at home. Is this enough of a statistic to seal the Flyers’ fate?

F Chris Stewart – day-to-day (illness)

D Justin Braun – OUT (groin)

D Samuel Morin – DL (knee)

D Shayne Gostisbehere – OUT (knee)

G Carter Hart – day-to-day (lower-body)

F Oskar Lindblom – DL (illness)

F Nolan Patrick – IR/NR (head)

St. Louis Blues Injury Report

F Vladimir Tarasenko – DL (shoulder)

F Sammy Blais – DL (wrist)

D Carl Parayko – DL (upper-body)

F Erik Foley – IR/NR (concussion)

Philadelphia Flyers vs St. Louis Blues Odds

The latest odds for Flyers vs Blues are provided by Unibet NJ and 888Sport NJ.

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