Maybe the third time is a charm. When the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, it’ll be the third meeting of the season for these two, and a chance for the Blue Jackets to grab their first win. The Flyers have won both of the previous two meetings, one in Philly, and one in Columbus.
Speaking of winning, both of these teams have been doing some of that recently. The Flyers are on a very modest two-game winning streak, while Columbus has put together a four-game winning streak, bringing their record to a tidy 8-3 in their last 11 starts. It’s been a very solid run for a Blue Jacket team that had been stumbling badly prior to this stretch (going 1-8 in their nine games before the turnaround).
The is a home team that has proven, particularly lately, that they can create quality scoring chances. They rank amongst the highest scoring teams in the league when playing in front of the home town crowd. Combine that with a Flyers team that gives up a very healthy number of quality scoring chances to opponents, and the formula starts to look positive for Columbus.
Tonight it looks like Ivan Fedotov is going to get the start for the Flyers. He’s shown flashes, but has been pretty mediocre overall, with a record of 4-5 and an .874 SV%. He’ll be playing in front of a team that’s skating for the third time in four nights, and the sixth in 10 days. There hasn’t been a lot of travel at all, but it has been a taxing schedule. Add in they booked one of their biggest wins of the season last night, beating the Florida Panthers in a hard fought battle that saw them come back from a two-goal deficit, then have to fight again to tie the game in the third, before winning it late. It was a huge win for a team that doesn’t grab a lot of “statement” type wins. Now they have to get up and rolling again less than 24 hours later, on the road, facing a team they’ve beaten twice already this season.
This one checks a few of the boxes we like to look at when handicapping) NHL games, giving us a play on the home team Blue Jackets, as they look to get a win vs. a team that’s beaten them twice already this season (not a huge thing, and not really a revenge angle at all, but that little extra motivation will be talked about in the room, as well catching what should be a team they have way more jump than, especially as the game wears on, and let’s add in they face an opponent off an emotional high from that Panther win, situations that aren’t all that common during a long regular season (those emotional wins).
Flyers vs. Blue Jackets Pick: This line is hovering right around even, to +105, with the Flyers being slight road favorites. We have it at +103 right now at one or two of our outs.
We’re on the Blue Jackets, laying +103 to get the win tonight.