St. Louis Blues vs. Ottawa Senators: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/19/2023

Time: 2 p.m. ET

Venue: Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ON

Where to watch: TVAS, TSN5, BSMW

DraftKings: Senators -155, Blues +135

FanDuel: Senators -162, Blues +136

BetMGM: Senators -160, Blues +135

Caesars: Senators -154, Blues +130

Blues: 26-26-3

Senators: 26-24-4

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The St. Louis Blues will be playing the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, February 19 in Ottawa.

The St. Louis Blues lost against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, February 18 in St. Louis, Missouri with a score of 4-1. The St. Louis Blues currently rank 6th in the Central Division.

Sammy Blais scored, and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues (26-26-3), whose three-game winning streak ended.

The Blues traded O'Reilly, a center and their captain since 2020, and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a three-team deal Friday that also included the Minnesota Wild for forwards Mikhail Abramov and Adam Gaudette and draft picks, one week after trading forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers.

"Just OK," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They got a couple power-play goals, that was the difference probably. We weren't bad. We could be better.

"Just the whole situation that went down [with the trade]. I didn't see the same energy and fight that we've had lately."

"Yeah, it's one of the tougher trades I've definitely dealt with," St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. "I've known [O'Reilly] since I've been 17 and obviously played some Canada events and many good years here. He's a guy that comes to the rink and lots of laughing and joking with him. On the flip side of that, he demands a lot of out of his teammates and works extremely hard and pulls guys into the fight each and every night. Guys like that are obviously great to play with.

"Shocking seeing the news about both of those guys going early, two character guys that ... I guess shocking when you saw it, but I guess it's been talked about for so long, it doesn't really come to a shock with two weeks before the (2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3). Obviously two great team guys and Toronto got two guys that know what it takes to win."

Blais cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1 at 15:28 of the second with his second goal since being acquired from the Rangers in the Tarasenko trade.

The St. Louis Blues have won four of their last 10 games.

The Ottawa Senators lost against the Chicago Blackhawks last Friday, February 17 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa with a score of 4-3 in overtime. The Ottawa Senators currently rank 7th in the Atlantic Division.

Brady Tkachuk scored for the third straight game, and Claude Giroux and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators (26-24-4), who had won three in a row. Sogaard made 28 saves in his second start since being recalled from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Feb. 9.

"Definitely going to be talking to [Sogaard] after that one," said Tkachuk, who is Ottawa captain. "It's not even remotely close to his fault. We just made too many turnovers to finish off the game."

Ottawa is without its top two goaltenders due to injury (Anton Forsberg, MCL tears in both knees; Cam Talbot, lower body).

"I'm the last line of defense," Sogaard said, "and I've got to step up and make a save. And I didn't, so I'll go back and work hard tomorrow."

Kane gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead 44 seconds into the first period after taking a cross-slot pass from Domi, waiting out a sliding Sogaard and scoring with a far side wrist shot. Pinto tied it 1-1 at 7:31 of the second period, tipping in a Derick Brassard point shot.

Giroux put the Senators ahead 2-1 at 2:11 of the third when he took a seam pass from DeBrincat on the rush and finished a backhand deke five-hole on Mrazek.

"It's the NHL," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said, "and if you lay off the gas just for a second, that's what happens."

Tkachuk extended it to 3-1 at 4:53, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing play with Drake Batherson and Tim Stutzle on the rush. Tkachuk has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games.

"I think we're just frustrated right now," Giroux said. "Anytime you have a 3-1 lead, you want to be a team that knows how to shut teams down."

The Ottawa Senators have won six of their last 10 games.

Prediction

You have to think the Blues are about to go on a rough patch here for a little bit. Second night of a back-to-back with travel to Canada will not help. Senators 5, Blues 2

Blues are 6-1 in the last seven in Ottawa

Road team is 11-4 in last 15 meetings.

Senators are 6-1 in last seven against a team with a losing record.

Blues:

Brayden Schenn -- Robert Thomas -- Jordan Kyrou

Matthew Highmore -- Ivan Barbashev -- Josh Leivo

Jake Neighbours -- Logan Brown -- Sammy Blais

Alexey Toropchenko -- Nathan Walker -- Tyler Pitlick

Nick Leddy -- Colton Parayko

Torey Krug -- Justin Faulk

Tyler Tucker -- Calle Rosen

Thomas Greiss

Senators:

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Claude Giroux

Alex DeBrincat -- Shane Pinto -- Drake Batherson

Derick Brassard -- Ridly Greig -- Mathieu Joseph

Tyler Motte -- Dylan Gambrell -- Parker Kelly

Thomas Chabot -- Nikita Zaitsev

Erik Brannstrom -- Artem Zub

Nick Holden -- Travis Hamonic

Mads Sogaard