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Table of Contents
Match Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Game | St. Louis Blues at Nashville Predators |
| Venue | Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee |
| Schedule spot | Central Division matchup; first of two meetings in five days |
| Predators recent form | 5 wins in last 7; coming off 4-3 shootout win vs. Avalanche |
| Blues recent form | Beat Ottawa and Montreal before 5-2 home loss to Bruins |
| Goal differential | Blues at minus-30; Predators at minus-25 through Tuesday’s games |
| Playoff context | Both trying to dig out of early-season holes and rejoin the Western playoff race |
Bettors can see how this one stacks up against the rest of the Thursday slate on the NHL scores and odds board and where each club sits in the broader league picture on the NHL teams page.
Line and Odds
- Moneyline: Predators projected as a modest home favorite; Blues priced as a short underdog
- Puck line: Predators -1.5 at plus money; Blues +1.5 offering goal protection
- Total: 6.0 goals, with the number shaped by weak season-long goal differentials but recent offensive upticks
Movement Matchup
The number here is built around a simple tension: Nashville are finally starting to look like the team Andrew Brunette has been trying to mold, while St. Louis are clinging to flashes of promise amid a wave of injuries.
The Predators’ 6-12-4 start buried them in the standings and in public perception, but five wins in seven and a 4-3 shootout victory over Colorado change the conversation. Beating a powerhouse Avalanche group that had banked points in 28 of 30 does not happen by accident. Skjei’s description of Nashville “playing fast,” staying connected and supporting the puck is exactly what Brunette’s system is supposed to look like. The key piece is that they “didn’t deviate” from the game plan even when Colorado pushed back, which has not always been the case this season.
On the other side, the Blues’ injury list is driving a lot of the skepticism in the market. Losing Nick Bjugstad on top of Jordan Kyrou, Jimmy Snuggerud, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker strips out a big chunk of the forward depth. That is why they are scrambling for solutions with Robby Fabbri on a one-year deal and Dillon Dube on a tryout. It is hard to build continuity when you are constantly teaching new bodies how you want to play, and it shows in the inability to put together a three-game win streak.
Both teams have ugly goal differentials, which is part of why this game will keep coming up in more forward-looking pieces like Central Division odds and NHL conference odds. The difference is trajectory. Nashville’s is pointed up. St. Louis are still oscillating between solid road efforts and home no-shows.
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Breakdown Injury Reports
Predators injury report
| Player | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Core forwards | Expected to play | No new key absences reported in the supplied information; main scoring group available |
| Defense group | Expected to play | Skjei and the regular blue line intact based on current info |
| Depth pieces | Day-to-day | Usual minor knocks possible, but nothing highlighted as a major concern |
Blues injury report
| Player | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Bjugstad (F) | Out | Upper-body injury from Tuesday; latest addition to forward casualty list |
| Jordan Kyrou (F) | Out | Lower-body issue; tied for team goal lead before injury |
| Jimmy Snuggerud (F) | Out | Wrist surgery; long-term |
| Alexey Toropchenko (F) | Out | Leg burns from domestic accident; still sidelined |
| Nathan Walker (F) | Out | Upper-body injury; depth piece removed from rotation |
| Robby Fabbri (F) | Newly signed | One-year, two-way deal; expected to be integrated quickly to plug holes |
| Dillon Dube (F) | On AHL tryout | Auditioning in Springfield as potential call-up option |
Injury imbalance is a big part of why Nashville are attracting support in sharper writeups and in the NHL expert betting guide: one team is closer to full strength, the other is patching the lineup together every night.
Predators Recent Performance
Nashville are finally playing the kind of hockey that can justify a climb back into the race. Five wins in seven is nice; how they are doing it is more important. The win over Colorado was a template game: high pace, tight support, forwards holding pucks down low instead of reverting to one-and-done rushes, and a third period where they stayed inside the game plan instead of panicking.
Brunette’s comment that they “found our game a little bit” in the third matters. Early in the year, one bad shift often spiraled into a bad period. Lately, they have shown they can absorb a push, reset, and reimpose their own tempo. The minus-25 goal differential is still a reminder of how rough the start was, but the last seven-game sample looks a lot more like a playoff-caliber team and a lot less like the mess that dug the early hole.
For bettors, that kind of shift is exactly what you look for in more nuanced NHL picks work: a team whose market sticker price still reflects old results more than current form.
Blues Recent Performance
St. Louis remain stuck in a frustrating pattern. They do enough to tease a turnaround, then fall flat before any real streak can form. The back-to-back road wins in Ottawa and Montreal were the right kind of victories: gritty, structured, and exactly what a minus-30 goal differential team needed. Then the Bruins came in and hung five on them at home.
Robert Thomas is right that you “need streaks in a year.” The fact that the Blues have not put together three straight wins yet is not just trivia; it is a snapshot of their season-long consistency problem. Justin Faulk’s assessment is blunt and accurate: the game is “getting better,” but not long enough or often enough. Combine that with a decimated forward group and you get a team that is dangerous in isolated spots but hard to trust as a favorite or even as a short dog against form teams.
Until they show sustained improvement, St. Louis will continue to sit in the volatile zone of broader Stanley Cup odds and futures discussion: capable of an upset, but a risky proposition for long-term backing.
Betting Insights and Trends
This matchup is the definition of a buy-low on current form vs. a sell-high on roster health. Nashville’s overall numbers are still ugly, but the last seven games tell a different story: improved pace, better structure, and actual execution against a top-tier opponent. That is the kind of shift that algorithmic models and human handicappers both notice, and it is why the Predators are starting to show up more often on the positive side of nightly NHL picks recommendations.
St. Louis, by contrast, are skating uphill. The minus-30 goal differential is not something you hand-wave away, and the injury situation means they are asking role players and late additions to handle offensive loads they are not built for. There is enough talent in Thomas and the remaining core that the Blues can absolutely steal games, but from a pure probability standpoint, you are asking a patched-together lineup to outplay an increasingly confident, faster Predators group on the road. That is a thin edge to lean on consistently.
Discipline and special teams should be pivotal. With both teams carrying bad season-long differentials, whoever stays out of the box and protects the front of the net should be able to tilt expected goals and, eventually, the scoreboard. Nashville’s improved connectivity helps there; when they are “helping each other out” and making clean exits, they take fewer lazy penalties and spend less time scrambling.
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Best Bets and Prediction
Projected score: Predators 4, Blues 2
The likeliest script has Nashville’s pace and healthier lineup grinding down a short-handed Blues forward group over 60 minutes. The Predators’ ability to hang with Colorado at their preferred tempo is a strong signal that they can control this matchup territorially, force St. Louis to defend for long stretches and eventually turn that pressure into a multi-goal output.
St. Louis can still punch back; Thomas remains a high-end playmaker, and a hot goaltending night can drag any underdog into a coin flip. But with the Blues’ depth so compromised and their season-long inability to string together consistent efforts, the balance of probabilities favors the home side.
From a betting perspective, Nashville on the moneyline is the cleanest angle. The projected score leans slightly to the over 6.0, but most of the edge sits with the side. You are backing the team with better current form, a healthier roster and a clearer identity, rather than hoping a depleted Blues lineup suddenly finds the consistency it has lacked all year.
Handicapper section
For handicappers, this is the sort of matchup you want to be on the right side of over the long run. Nashville fit the classic “early record worse than current team” profile. The 6-12-4 start and minus-25 goal differential still color public perception, but recent games show a group that is buying into Brunette’s pace-and-support system and finally turning that into wins. Those are exactly the types of teams you want to identify early in more detailed work like the NHL expert betting guide.
St. Louis, meanwhile, are a textbook example of a roster you treat with caution: flashes of quality, a few core stars, but persistent volatility and a brutal injury situation. There will be spots to back the Blues at the right number, particularly when they get healthier or catch an opponent in a bad schedule spot. This is not one of those spots. You are asking a ravaged forward group to outplay a rested, trending-up opponent in a building where the Predators finally seem to be finding themselves.
The disciplined play is to treat Nashville as a medium-confidence piece on a broader card: a side where the process and trajectory point the same way, supported by concrete roster edges, rather than a gamble on a flawed team suddenly turning into something it has not been all season.
