St. Louis Blues favourites against Carolina Hurricanes – NHL Preview
There is less than a month remaining in the National Hockey League (NHL) 2011-12 regular season and the playoff picture is getting clearer with every passing day.
St. Louis Blues are becoming one of the strongest contenders for the President’s Trophy while Carolina Hurricanes might have to end up the season without qualifying for the postseason.
However, Hurricanes are not mathematically eliminated from the playoff contention and will certainly not go down without putting up a fight.
Hurricanes will host Blues on Thursday, March 15, 2012, at RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina. Let’s take a look at both teams.
Blues
Blues are leading the Western Conference with 98 points after 71 games and are also leading all the league teams in terms of points, giving themselves a strong chance of lifting the President’s Trophy.
They have played seven games this month and lost two. Presently, the Blues are on a seven-game road trip and have so far played two games.
In their last game, Blues faced the Chicago Blackhawks, who snapped the former’s five-game winning streak.
Blues had a two goal lead after the end of the first period against Blackhawks, but the latter rallied to score one goal each in the next two periods without conceding any.
The game was first forced to overtime and later shootout was called. Blackhawks scored the only goal of the shootout and got the victory.
Blues’ coach, Ken Hitchcock, said after the game:
"The lead came too easy to us. We didn't have to work for it.”
He added:
"They were coming at us, and we were on our heels, and we stayed on our heels most of the night. When we had the lead 3-1, we started playing with skill over work, started turning the puck over at the offensive blue line, that gave them all the momentum."
Hurricanes
Hurricanes have won two games this month and lost five and are currently on a two-game losing streak.
The recent defeats came against Florida Panthers (2-0) and New York Rangers (4-2).
Hurricanes are ranked at 13th spot in the Eastern Conference with 67 points after 70 games and are 11 points behind the eighth-ranked Washington Capitals.
Hurricanes’ coach, Kirk Muller, said of his team:
"We're battling hard right now. As long as we're mathematically still in it (playoff race) we're going to keep going. As you can tell, we’re not quitting."
Predictions
Blues are favourites.
The sum of goals scored by both teams might exceed six.
If Hurricanes win, the winning margin will be less than two goals.
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