NHL Betting Quick Picks - Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues

St. Louis Blues.

While the Chicago-St.Louis rivalry isn’t quite what it used to be, the firing of Denis Savard has suddenly turned the hockey betting world’s attention onto the ‘Hawks. Fittingly, his replacement, Joel Quenneville, is a former Blues bench boss as well. Quenneville is famous for the “glory years” in the STL—the days of Pronger, Hull and Fuhr. This all makes for a fantastic matchup, especially on a Saturday night filled with NHL betting action.

Coaching dilemmas aside, the Blackhawks will finally be riding some momentum into a game this season. Wednesday night marked the Hawks’ first victory of the season, a 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Sixty-million-dollar-man Brian Campbell broke out of his slump and netted his first goal of the season, while youngsters Colin Fraser and Kris Versteeg contributed on the other three goals. Perhaps the biggest positive coming out of the contest was that Martin Havlat appeared healthy and motivated once again, roofing a backhand past Ilya Bryzgalov after dazzling the Coyotes defense.

The Blues have come out of the gate with two wins, and Brad Boyes and Paul Kariya have picked up right where they left off. Their key will be to stack the blueline and prevent the speedy Blackhawks from entering the zone. However, with a young defense corps, it’s up in the air what particular style they’ll employ. Generally, the Blues have a smaller group of defensemen which could favor the ‘Hawks tremendously.

Chicago doesn’t exactly staff a host of powerful forecheckers, so their success relies on the stickhandling ability of their wingers, and a few bulkier forwards such as Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd to control the play. With Quenneville at the helm however, a tougher style of play is likely in the works for the young Hawks, and it could start as early as this Saturday.

Normally the Blackhawks would be favored heavily in this matchup, however being as they’re on the road, there could be some great value on a Hawks moneyline victory in this one. Plus, they’ll be playing hard for their new coach!