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Vegas Golden Knights at St. Louis Blues

Thu Oct 227:00 PM CTESPN+St. Louis, MO
By JR·2 min read
Golden Knights(8-3-0)
Blues(4-4-1)
Thursday 10/227:00 PM

TLDR: St. Louis just scraped past Winnipeg on a Philip Broberg slapper. Thursday, October 22, the Blues get Vegas instead, the team that has been running up scores across the league.

FRI 10/23, 7:00 PMESPN+
Golden Knights
(8-3-0)
LWWWL
Blues
(4-4-1)
WLLWW

A 4-4-1 St. Louis team opens the middle of a 5-game homestand against a Vegas side that was 8-2-0 after scoring 6 goals in back-to-back wins. The Blues won their last game 2-1 over Winnipeg mostly because Joel Hofer made 32 saves, and they're missing 3 defensemen. That makes stopping Eichel, Marner and Stone the whole question. No odds were posted when this was written.

Vegas Golden Knights
  • Scored 6 in back-to-back wins through October 17
  • Won 7 of 8 entering Pittsburgh win
  • Stone, Eichel, Marner all producing points
  • On the road against a team on a homestand
  • Hot scoring start may not hold up
St. Louis Blues
  • Broberg drove both goals against Winnipeg
  • Hofer made 32 saves in his last start
  • Second game of a 5-game homestand
  • 3 defensemen on IR, including Krug and Tucker
  • Outshot by Winnipeg, needed the goalie to win
  • Allowed 5 in each of the 2 road losses

Here's the setup. Vegas came out of its October 17 win over Pittsburgh at 8-2-0 with 7 wins in its last 8. That 6-2 game was the second straight time the Golden Knights hung 6 on somebody, and it gave them 17 goals over a 3-game winning streak. Mark Stone had a goal and 2 assists, and Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel picked up 2 helpers apiece. The Blues are a .500 club at 4-4-1, and they've had to win ugly to get there.

Ugly is the honest word for the Winnipeg game. Broberg set up Jimmy Snuggerud's 1st-period opener and then won it midway through the 3rd with a power-play slapper off a Robert Thomas feed. In between, the Jets outshot St. Louis and Joel Hofer stood on his head with 32 saves. That win also ended a 2-game skid that included a 5-4 loss in Minnesota and a 2-5 loss in Nashville. A goalie stealing a game is a nice story. It's also a hard way to live against a lineup like Vegas.

The Blues have the schedule on their side, at least. The Jets game opened a 5-game homestand, so this is home game 2 at Enterprise Center, with puck drop at 7:00 PM CT. Vegas is the team coming off travel, and there's no posted board for this one yet, so the betting side waits.

Vegas Golden Knights
(8-3-0)
10/21LvsLightning2-6
10/18WvsPenguins6-2
10/16WvsFlames6-2
10/14W@Predators5-2
10/13L@Wild2-4
St. Louis Blues
(4-4-1)
10/21WvsJets2-1
10/18L@Predators2-5
10/16L@Wild4-5
10/13W@Senators7-2
10/10WvsBlue Jackets5-3

The matchup that matters is Vegas's top 6 against a St. Louis blue line that's running thin. Torey Krug is on long-term IR with an ankle injury. Tyler Tucker had arthroscopic knee surgery and won't be re-assessed for 6 weeks. Logan Mailloux is on IR too. That's 3 defensemen out, and Broberg is the one who has to cover for it. He played like it against Winnipeg. He'll need to play like it again against Eichel and Marner.

The forward group is short as well. Dillon Dube, Alexey Toropchenko and Ross Johnston are all on IR, so the Blues' depth lines are thinner than the roster sheet suggests. When St. Louis has scored, it has really scored: 5 against Columbus and 7 in Ottawa. The trouble is how quickly it flips. The Blues gave up 5 in back-to-back road losses right after that.

So the game comes down to 2 questions. Can the Blues' power play and Hofer keep it close enough to steal another one-goal game? Or does a Vegas attack that's been rolling through October pull away from a short-handed defense? The Golden Knights had the better form going in, and the Blues have the building. Thursday shows which one counts for more.

Golden Knights vs. Blues: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 22) — Blues Host a Golden Knights Team That Keeps Scoring 6 · Barstool Bush