Overview
The Anaheim Ducks visit the Nationwide Arena in Columbus Tuesday where they play the Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets have actually played the Ducks fairly well over the past few seasons winning 3 of the last 5 meetings overall and they are also 4-4 versus the Ducks over the last 8 games when playing at home in Columbus so that’s actually pretty solid considering the Ducks have been one of the better teams in the league over that period.
Head to Head Trends
Columbus is 4-4 in its last 8 games when playing at home against Anaheim
Columbus Blue Jackets (+140)
The Columbus Blue Jackets are 7th in the Metropolitan Division with 70 points and even though they are out of the playoffs that hasn’t stopped them from playing some good hockey over the past couple weeks winning 6 of their last 7 games. I don’t think the Blue Jackets are all that bad a team. Their big problem this season has been staying healthy. Early in the season they had a lot of guys go down with injuries and they lost 15 of 17 games and just a few weeks ago they got hit with the injury bug again and lost 7 games in a row. If you were to eliminate those couple of stretches from the season the Blue Jackets would be 16 games over .500 at 31-15 but that’s hockey and every team has to deal with injuries at some point.
Columbus Blue Jackets Trends
Columbus is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Columbus’s last 10 games at home
Anaheim Ducks (-160)
The Anaheim Ducks are 1st in the Pacific Division with 99 points and even though they are tied for the best record in the entire league I don’t even think they are even one of the best 5 teams in the league I would probably rank the Ducks closer to 7th or 8th best. The Ducks have won 4 of their last 5 games although a couple of those wins came in overtime and when you look back a bit further the Ducks are 12-2 in their last 14 games that have went to overtime so I wonder if they are due to lose their next couple of OT games.
Anaheim Ducks Trends
Anaheim is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Anaheim’s last 7 games on the road
Conclusion
I’m going to go with the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Ducks in this one. The Blue Jackets are playing some pretty good hockey right now plus they are at home and they are also a +140 underdog so I think they are definitely worth a shot.
Free Pick: Columbus Blue Jackets +140
