St. Louis Blues at Columbus Blue Jackets 10/6/22 - NHL Picks & Predictions
Last Updated: 10/06/2022 at 10:03 AM ET
In Thursday night NHL preseason action, the St. Louis Blues will travel to Nationwide Arena to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blues (49-22-11) ranked third in the NHL in goals scored (309) and lost to Colorado in the second round of the playoffs. Twenty-three year old Robert Thomas (20 goals, 57 assists) signed an eight-year extension in the offseason and is the centerpiece of a talented offensive roster.
On Tuesday, St. Louis raced out to a two-goal lead after one period and cruised to a 4-2 home victory versus Minnesota. LW Pavel Buchnevich scored and assisted on the two first period goals for the Blues.
The Columbus Blue Jackets scored a franchise record 258 goals last season, but failed to make the playoffs. For the Blue Jackets to take the next step, they must improve on a defense that surrendered 300 goals. Columbus made some minor improvement on defense through free agency and pulled off a major heist by signing LW Johnny Gaudreau (40 goals, 75 assists) away from Calgary.
On Monday, Columbus was outshot by a 45-26 margin during an ugly 8-1 road loss against Carolina. Yegor Chinakhov scored the first goal of the game for the Blue Jackets, who fell to 3-2-1 this preseason.
St. Louis RW Alexei Toropchenko will be sidelined until December while recovering from shoulder surgery. Both teams feature explosive offenses and Columbus still has plenty to figure out defensively. Take the over. Final Score Prediction, St. Louis Blues win 5-3.
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