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St. Louis Blues (17-17-4) at Chicago Blackhawks (12-23-2)
Date: Tuesday, December 31
Site: Wrigley Field in Chicago
Time: 5 p.m. ET
TV: TNT/truTV
Is this the sexiest matchup on the New Year’s Eve slate? It sure isn’t, but it’s the Winter Classic and yours truly will be in attendance. So that’s where I’m focusing my money.
The pick — Blues 3-way ML (+115, BetMGM)
The Blackhawks are coming in with a four-game losing streak, having given up 21 goals in those defeats, and Year 2 of Connor Bedard is looking a lot like Year 1. While he shows flashes of the player everyone thinks he’ll be, he still doesn’t take over games the way past generational players have. It doesn’t help that the front office isn’t aligning talent around Bedard to help him grow, but that’s a different column for a different day.
The Blues have lost six of their last nine games heading into the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. I do like the road team in this one, though.
In the history of the Winter Classic, St. Louis is 2-0 with victories over Chicago in 2017 and Minnesota in 2022. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are 0-4 in this yearly tradition. Couple that with the fact that only one of the last nine Winter Classic games have gone to overtime, and I think the Blues get it done in regulation.
No analytics. Just history and a gut feeling.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Season record: 11-12-2, +0.35 units