St. Louis Blues vs Detroit Red Wings Prediction: Best Bet for Saturday
Detroit's 6-4-3 record was built with Dylan Larkin running the middle, and Larkin is out on injured reserve for Saturday's visit from St. Louis. The Blues are an ordinary 6-6-1, but they arrive whole at center and with the better goaltender, which turns a pick'em in Detroit into a question about how the Red Wings replace the one player they cannot.
The Matchup
On paper this is the tightest game on Saturday's slate. St. Louis is 6-6-1 with a plus-0.08 differential, scoring 3.00 goals per game and allowing 2.92, while Detroit is 6-4-3 at minus-0.08, scoring 2.69 and allowing 2.77. The rosters tilt it.
Dylan Larkin is out on injured reserve for Detroit, and Mason Appleton, Marco Kasper and Simon Edvinsson are also on injured reserve, with Albert Johansson out. Alex DeBrincat leads the Red Wings with 15 points and 9 assists and Viktor Arvidsson has 8 goals, but without Larkin, Detroit loses the center who takes the hard matchups and drives its first power-play unit.
St. Louis counters with Jimmy Snuggerud, who has 7 goals, and Dylan Holloway, who leads the Blues with 11 points and 8 assists. Colton Parayko is day-to-day for St. Louis. Keep an eye on whether Parayko plays before placing a bet. Torey Krug and Tyler Tucker remain on injured reserve for the Blues, losses their blue line has already absorbed.
Key Factors
Goaltending is where St. Louis pulls away. Joel Hofer has been superb at 2.24 goals against and a .923 save percentage, a clear edge on John Gibson's 3.15 and .874 for Detroit, even if Daniil Tarasov's 1.40 goals against in limited work gives the Red Wings a tempting alternative. Special teams widen the gap further.
The Blues convert 25.7 percent on the power play and kill 85.3 percent of their penalties, while Detroit's penalty kill sits at 66.7 percent, the weakest on Saturday's slate, so every St. Louis power play is a genuine scoring chance against a short-handed unit missing Edvinsson. Detroit's honest counter is volume and home ice.
The Red Wings fire 29.8 shots per game, have won three of their last five, and St. Louis can slump badly when Jordan Binnington starts instead of Hofer. If Detroit's depth centers hold their shifts even and Gibson steals a period, the home team wins a low game. That is a lot of ifs built on replacing Larkin for a night.
Detroit without Larkin loses its matchup center, its faceoff edge and the head of its power play in one absence, and St. Louis brings the better goaltender and the far better penalty kill into the building. Take the St. Louis Blues moneyline at -115.
Game Information
| Date | Saturday (10/31) |
|---|---|
| Start Time | 12:00 PM CT |
| How to Watch | NHL |
| Venue | Little Caesars Arena |
| Total | 5.5 |
| Moneyline | St. Louis Blues -115 |
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