The Winnipeg Jets head to Nashville as -135 favorites with their 42-14-3 record against the Predators who sit at just 20-30-7 for this Central Division clash. Winnipeg has dominated this season and even leads the regular-season series against the Preds 2-1. Nashville, on the other hand, has struggled all season to gain any traction and sits near the bottom of the division standings. It’s not looking like there’s any hope for them to even get a wild card slot.
Winnipeg is on a 5-game winning streak, while Nashville has lost 3 of its last 5. Of course, in the defense of the Predators, a couple of those losses were against some of the best teams in the NHL.
The puck drops at 7:00 PM ET at Bridgestone Arena so you have plenty of time to get your bets in for this game.
The Jets are the clear favorites heading into this matchup, and a quick look at the stats and odds it’s easy to see why.
They have been one of the best teams in the NHL as of late, while Nashville has struggled to find any amount of consistency. The moneyline has Winnipeg at -135, with the Predators as +114 underdogs. The total goals over/under is set at 5.5 which feels a bit low for these 2 teams which is probably why the over is set at -130 odds.
Before we dig too deep into these teams, we need to take a look at a few trends for these 2 teams.
Jets Last 5 games: They’re sitting at 5-0, with impressive wins against Carolina, Ottawa, and St. Louis. That’s no easy feat.
Predators Last 5 games: They’re struggling at 2-3 which includes blowout losses to New Jersey at 5-0 and Florida at 4-1.
Jets road record: One of the best in the league at 19-9-0.
Predators home record: Sitting at just 14-12-3, making Bridgestone Arena far from a fortress.
Winnipeg has been dominant on both ends of the ice.
Connor Hellebuyck has been nothing shy of outstanding as he’s boasting a 36-7-2 record with a dominant .926 save percentage and a 2.0 goals-against average. He’s been nearly unbeatable and many call him the best netminder in the world. He makes life tough for opposing offenses and the Predator’s offense isn’t even that great.
Offensively, Kyle Connor leads the charge with 73 points spanning 31 goals and 42 assists, while Mark Scheifele has 33 goals putting him in contention for the Rocket Richard Trophy. The Jets have also averaged a whopping 4.2 GF/G over their last 5 games which is well above their season average of 3.6.
Needless to say, the Jets are smoking hot right now.
Unfortunately for them, Nashville has had a rough season. A major contributor to their dismal year has been goaltending. Juuse Saros has an unbelievable 12-24-6 record, a .899 save percentage, and a 2.93 goals-against average. His backup, Justus Annunen, hasn’t been much better. It doesn’t matter who ends up in the crease, they start to look like Swiss cheese after a couple of periods.
The offense hasn’t been consistent either. Filip Forsberg has 21 goals and 53 points is decent, but he’s the only reliable scoring threat. As for the blue line, it’s really not worth mentioning.
The Predators' lack of firepower makes it tough to keep up with a dominant threat like Winnipeg.
Winnipeg is the better team in every single aspect of this game — offense, defense, goaltending, and momentum.
The Jets have outscored Nashville 12-3 in their last 2 meetings, and given the Predators’ defensive struggles since the 4 Nations Face-Off break, another multi-goal win for the Jets looks likely.
BettorsInsider Prediction: Jets 4, Predators 1
Best Bet: Jets -1.5 (+190)
We expect Hellebuyck to continue his elite play. Even if the Jets give him the night off, Eric Comrie isn’t doing too bad, either. We are anticipating Winnipeg’s offense to take full advantage of a vulnerable Predators defense.
Betting Jets -1.5 at +190 odds offers some good value for a team in peak form.