NHL Hockey Free Picks - Red Wings vs Blues

Detroit Red Wings vs. St. Louis Blues

Over the years, this rivalry has lost some of its lustre. The Red Wings have been the team to beat in the NHL for years, while the Blues have been manning the bottom half of the Central Division for what seems like years.

But there appears to be a changing of the guard going on, with the Red Wings core group passing through their prime and a young group of Blues starting to mature and improve, the years of dominance are all but done.

Case in point, the Blues have won three of four meetings this year.  That includes a two game sweep to start the season in Stockholm 4-3 and 5-3. Since then they have split games, with the road team taking both meetings.

Detroit has been hit hard this season with injuries, none bigger than Johan Franzen’s ACL tear suffered way back in their home opener on October 8th. The Mule, as he’s known in the hockey world, had been just that for the Red Wings over the past few seasons, seemingly willing the Wings to victory some night with his hard nose play.  Well, he’s healthy again and returns to the line-up tonight. 

Franzen expressed his excitement in a post practice interview "I had a good practice today, and this was my first practice actually being in a line, so it was more fun. Hopefully with a good first game I can get some confidence, and hopefully feel good in the other games, too."

Hopefully it’s the spark the Wings need because they have been very mediocre all season. Unlike Red Wings teams of the past, they haven’t been able to get on a roll. Since January 1st they are 7-7-4. They’re coming off a very disappointing loss to the Kings, having jumped out to a three goal first period lead, Los Angeles came all the way back to take the game 4-3.

St. Louis is coming into this contest licking its wounds of sorts. They ran into a hot Colorado team and got their butts whipped to the tune of 5-2. The offense just wasn’t clicking last night, as both goals came from their blue line.

Goals from Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson in the first period was the start the Blues needed, but they just weren’t able to sustain an sort of pressure and the Avalanche were just too much for them. Luckily for the Blues, tonight’s game is at home and they will stay there until the Olympic break.  St. Louis is going to need to figure out a way to get better on the road because right now they’re holding the League's worst road record (9-16-5).

The moneyline at BetUS has the Blues a home underdog (+115) while the road favoured Red Wings are an attractive -135. With this being the Blues second game in two nights and the Wings riding the emotional boost of the Mule’s return, it seems like a good play to go with Detroit in this one.