NHL Pick of the Week - Blues vs. Capitals
The Blues are on the road at the start of this week, on Wednesday they will play the Boston Bruins and then they will travel to Washington to battle it out with the Capitals.
The St. Louis Blues hold the second spot in the Western Conference with a record of 10-6-3 while the Washington Capitals are in 5th place in the Eastern Conference with a season record of 11-5-2.
The Blues are on a 3-game winning streak after defeating the Sabres last Tuesday, then Sharks on Thursday and finally the Predators on Saturday. They needed these wins after the horrendous performance on Nov 12th against the Blue Jackets where they lost 8-4.
St. Louis had a rough start this month, they started two games down and struggled to get their bearings, it seems once they got back home after their loss to the Blue Jackets they did some soul searching and finally figured out a way to consistently win both on the road as well as home.
In similar fashion the Capitals also lost to the Blue Jackets on Sunday by a score of 3-2. The Washington franchise has been inconsistent during the month of November, they started off well with a 3-game winning streak, but by the second week of the November they became unsteady, winning one game and losing the other if not two in a row.
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Unlike the Blues, they have not been able to figure out a way to consistently win games, they are not in any immediate problems as the season is just getting started. Their loss on Sunday was not terrible, they fought hard and it came down to the last minute when forward Alexander Wennberg scored the winning goal.
Wennberg commented on the game, saying that it was a tough game and that at times it felt as if the Capitals took over the game more and moreÖ he attributed their win to smart plays on behalf of the Blue Jackets. By contrast the game played between Columbus and the St. Louis was full of mistakes on both ends, but certainly unnecessary mistakes made by the Blues; as head coach Ken Hitchcock put it every mistake they made ended at the back of the Net.
So, the question now remains, have the Blues made enough corrections to their game to avoid making these mistakes? The answer seems to be yes, however, out of their 3 consecutive wins none have been against teams with a winning record, the sabers are ranked 15th in the Eastern Conference, San Jose and Nashville are currently in the 8th and 10th spots in the Western Conference, this subtracts some of the credit to their wins.
When you add that St. Louis is 2-5-1 while on the road and they are facing the Capitals who are 6-3-0 at home than things start looking a bit dreary for the Blues.
Bottom line:
The Capitals home field advantage will give them the edge in this game, it wonít be a blow out by any means I predict the final score to be 3-2 Capitals.
