Overview
The Chicago Blackhawks visit the Nationwide Arena in Columbus Saturday where they take on the Blue Jackets. The Blackhawks have absolutely dominated the Blue jackets over the past few seasons winning the last 13 straight meetings including the last 9 straight in Columbus.
Head to Head Trends
Blackhawks are 13-0 in the last 13 meetings.
Blackhawks are 9-0 in the last 9 meetings in Columbus.
Columbus Blue Jackets (+144)
The Columbus Blue Jackets are 6th in the Metropolitan Division with 29 points 17 points back of the 1st place Pittsburgh Penguins and just 8 points up on the last place Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes are on quite the roll these days winning 7 of their last 8 games and that one loss was in overtime so they have picked up points in 8 straight games. That’s actually pretty amazing considering they had lost 15 of their 17 games before this current hot streak. The Blue Jackets struggle a bit on offense averaging 2.5 goals per game but it’s their defense that have really hurt them so far this season allowing 3.2 goals per game which is actually quite the improvement from the 3.8 goals per game they were allowing just a couple weeks ago.
Columbus Blue Jackets Trends
Blue Jackets are 7-1 in their last 8 overall.
Blue Jackets are 17-49 in their last 66 vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Chicago Blackhawks (-160)
The Chicago Blackhawks are 1st in the Central Division just 1 point ahead of the St Louis Blues. The Blackhawks actually got off to a kind of a slow start this season winning just 6 of their first 12 games but they have been on fire over the past month winning 13 of their last 15 games. The Blackhawks are one of the higher scoring teams in the NHL averaging 3.1 goals per game and they are tied with the Predators for the best defense in the league allowing just 2.0 goals per game in large part due to their top ranked penalty kill at 91.2%.
Chicago Blackhawks Trends
Blackhawks are 13-2 in their last 15 overall.
Blackhawks are 47-21 in their last 68 vs. a team with a losing record.
Conclusion
I don’t usually like to bet heavy road favorites but I really have to make an exception in this case. The Blackhawks are in my opinion the best team in the league right now while the Blue Jackets recent hot streak was more of a lucky streak as 5 of their 7 wins came in overtime or the shootout.
Free Pick: Chicago Blackhawks -160
