Columbus vs Detroit: The Blue Jackets to recover from two straight defeats

There are only two games scheduled for another NHL game day. While everyone’s attention will be on the matchup of two of the NHL’s best teams of recent seasons, the Lightning and Islanders will quietly find out the relationship between the Blue Jackets and Red Wings in Ohio. Let’s pick a few bets on this matchup as well.

For the match against Detroit, the Blue Jackets come after two losses in a row. Moreover, both meetings were lost on home ice and division rivals. First, Brad Larsen’s team lost 3-4 to Washington, missing the decisive goal with less than a minute to go before the final whistle, and then falling to the New York Rangers 3-5 in back-to-back games. These failures demonstrated the current level of Columbus.

Leading up to their game against Columbus, Jeff Blashill’s team defeated Montreal in overtime. Dylan Larkin notched a double-double, including the game-winning goal and another goal by Pius Suter. As a result, the home stretch could be described as an overachieving one for the Red Wings. The team achieved three wins in 4 games, beating, besides Montreal, such powerful opponents as Vegas and Edmonton in regulation time. In total, they have eight wins in 16 games, which allows them to move into the playoff zone in 3rd place in the Atlantic Division. Amazing! It’s been a long time since the Red Wings have been this good.

Columbus lost two games to division rivals, so that the team will approach the matchup with Detroit very focused. They need to recover in front of their fans. Even without that, though, the Blue Jackets would be favourites. Right now, they are a more experienced and stable team. Interestingly, Detroit are third in their division with 50% of wins, while Columbus, with 54%, are only in their sixth position.

The prediction is a win for Columbus.

• W1 for 1.80;
• W1 in regulation time for 2.20;
• Correct score 3-1 for 20.00.