Columbus Blue Jackets vs Philadelphia Flyers Prediction: Best Bet for Tuesday

Philadelphia scores 1.85 goals per game, the lowest output on Tuesday's slate, and the Flyers try to fix it without Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett, both on injured reserve. Columbus has lost both of its road games, so the night asks whether a thin home offense can punish a visitor that has not traveled well.

The Matchup

Columbus is a strange road favorite. The Blue Jackets are 4-5-0, and all four wins came at home, where they are 4-3-0, against an 0-2-0 mark on the road. The offense is modest at 2.33 goals per game and the defense allows 3.33, so nothing about the season line screams trust. The recent shape is better than the totals.

Columbus beat Vegas 2-1 in overtime on Saturday, a low-event win built on patience, and its scoring is spread in a way that travels. Charlie Coyle leads the team with 8 points on 1 goal and 7 assists, Kent Johnson has a team-high 4 goals, and Cole Sillinger has 6 points. Nobody carries the Blue Jackets, but three lines can finish a shift.

Philadelphia's problem is simpler and worse. The Flyers score 1.85 goals per game, the lowest mark on Tuesday's slate, and the offense runs through two players. Matvei Michkov has 8 of the team's 24 goals, and Trevor Zegras leads the Flyers with 10 points. Behind them the drop is steep, with Porter Martone next at 5 points.

The goaltending has not been the disaster the 3-7-3 record suggests. Joseph Woll is 1-4 with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage, and Dan Vladar sits at 3.15 and .900. The Flyers allow 3.15 goals per game and give their goalies almost nothing to protect, which is how a .904 starter ends up with one win.

Key Factors

Availability is the loudest fact in this game, and it all sits on one bench. Travis Konecny is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and Owen Tippett is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, removing two top-six forwards from the league's lowest-scoring team.

Cam York is also on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, thinning the defense, and Rasmus Ristolainen is out with a hand injury. Columbus, by contrast, has no player on its injury report. A thin offense missing its two most proven finishers behind Michkov has to manufacture goals against a team that just won a 2-1 game in Vegas.

Special teams offer Philadelphia one narrow path, and it is worth naming honestly. Columbus kills penalties at 71.0 percent, a genuinely leaky unit, so Flyers power plays are the home team's best route to the cheap goal it needs. The catch is that Philadelphia's power play converts at only 16.3 percent, and at the other end the Flyers kill at 82.6 percent against a Columbus power play at 11.5 percent. This game will be decided at even strength, where Philadelphia's remaining forwards are overmatched.

The counterpoint is Columbus itself. An 0-2-0 road team with a 2.33-goal offense is nobody's idea of a lock, and Woll's .904 save percentage says the Flyers' net is in better shape than their record. If Philadelphia drags this into a 2-1 grind and its crowd gets involved, the home team wins the coin flip. Columbus has to score first and make a team with no finish chase the game.

Every pick is published with its line before the game. Odds via consensus sportsbooks at time of writing and move constantly. Must be 21+. If gambling is a problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.