The Boston Bruins are in the playoffs and essentially locked into their seed, so they don’t have a ton of motivation perhaps on Tuesday night when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets, which needs a victory to boost its wild-card chances and is favored on the NHL lines.
Bruins vs Blue Jackets NHL Odds, Predictions & Preview
Game day! The #NHLBruins road trip continues in Columbus. Puck drops against the the Blue Jackets at 7PM ET.
📺: @NESN 📲: NESNgo 📻: @985TheSportsHub pic.twitter.com/wR5FY0TqZ2 — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) 2 de abril de 2019
- When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Nationwide Arena
- TV: NBC Sports Network
- Stream: NHL.tv
- Radio: Boston / Columbus
- Opening NHL Lines: Jackets -125, Bruins +113 (total 5.5)
Season Series
Clubs have split two meetings. They last played March 16 and the Bruins were 2-1 overtime home winners. Brad Marchand scored 3:30 into overtime. Patrice Bergeron had a power-play goal for the Bruins and set up the winner. Bergeron spun around and fed Marchand in the right circle, where Marchand one-timed a shot as he went to one knee for his 15th OT goal, most in team history. Backup goalie Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves for the Bruins. Matt Duchene scored for the Blue Jackets, and Joonas Korpisalo made 31 saves.
Why Bet on Boston?
Boston lost a second straight game on Sunday, 6-3 in Detroit. Doesn’t really matter, though. David Krejci recorded two assists in the loss. Krejci had a hand in goals by Jake DeBrusk and David Backes during the second period. He has 50 assists in a season for the third time in his career. Krejci has amassed 69 points in 79 contests this season.
Backes gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at the time with his seventh goal of the season. He has contributed two goals and two assists in the past six games, but he has posted a mere 20 points in 67 matches this campaign. DeBrusk got Boston on the board at the 2:01 mark of the second period. He has 38 points in 65 games this season.
Brad Marchand also scored, hitting the 35-goal mark in style, as he scored a shorthanded marker which tied the game, 2-2, midway through the second period. Marchand has picked up 11 points in his last six games. He’s up to 98 points in 78 games this season. He has 26 career short-handed goals, breaking Boston’s record set by Rick Middleton between the late 1970s and late 1980s.
Jaroslav Halak allowed five goals on 27 shots. Halak has now allowed three goals or more in each of his last three starts (two of those were victories). He owns a 21-11-4 record with a 2.40 goals-against-average and a .921 save percentage this season.
The biggest question that coach Bruce Cassidy has to answer in the final regular season games of the season this week is finding the right landing spot for Marcus Johansson. Cassidy went back with David Pastrnak on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Marchand, and had Johansson skating on his natural, left side with Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen on the right wing. Johansson is minus-2 in two games in his return and has not yet looked like the player the B’s obtained before he went out of the lineup with a lung contusion.
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 3.13
- Shots: 32.71
- PP/PK Percentage: 26.42
- Goals: 2.62
- Shots: 29.54
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.41
Why Bet on Columbus?
This could be Columbus’ final home game of the season if the Jackets don’t make the playoffs. They won a fifth straight game Sunday, 4-0 in Buffalo. Columbus enters the final week of the season with an opportunity to secure its third consecutive playoff berth in a run similar to how the Blue Jackets closed last year by going 13-2-2.
Pierre-Luc Dubois scored a goal and two assists in Sunday’s win. Dubois opened the scoring at the 7:14 mark of the first period. He also helped set up goals by Oliver Bjorkstrand (2-0) and Josh Anderson (4-0). Dubois finished the game with a plus-3 rating, three shots on goal and two hits in 14:17 of ice time. The 20-year-old now has 25 goals and 59 points in 79 games this season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored Sunday and has found the back of the net in each of his last five games. Ryan Dzingel had a pair of assists. Dzingel reached the 30-assist mark Sunday and has 55 points this season.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 38 shots he faced. Bobrovsky has given up only 14 goals in his past 11 starts. Bobrovsky has put the Blue Jackets in a playoff spot as he has been showing the form that has won him a pair of Vezina Trophies in his career. He is 9-2 in his last 11 with a 1.27 GAA and a .951 save percentage. He now owns a 36-23-1 record with a 2.55 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage this season.
Bobrovsky was named the NHL’s First Star from last week. He currently leads the NHL with a career-high nine shutouts, which is one shy of the club single season record of 10 set by Steve Mason in 2008-09. Bobrovsky also ranks second in the NHL wins and seventh in minutes played (3,455) and has gone 17-7-0 with a 1.90 GAA, .933 SV% and seven shutouts in 24 outings since February 1.
Team Statistics
Offense- Goals: 3.13
- Shots: 31.49
- PP/PK Percentage: 14.88
- Goals: 2.81
- Shots: 29.54
- PP/PK Percentage: 15.08
Bruins vs Blue Jackets NHL Betting Trends
- Boston is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 games
- Boston is 18-7 SU in the last 25 games
- The total went OVER in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games
- Columbus is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 games
- Columbus is 5-0 SU in the last 5 games
- The total went UNDER in 11 of Columbus’s last 14 games
Expert NHL Betting Prediction
Columbus 3, Boston 2
