St. Louis Blues vs. Seattle Kraken: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 10/19/2022

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA

Where to watch: TNT

DraftKings: Blues -145, Kraken +125

FanDuel: Blues -154, Kraken +128

BetMGM: Blues -154, Kraken +130

Caesars: Blues -145, Kraken +122

Blues: 1-0-0

Kraken: 1-2-1

The St. Louis Blues have gotten off to a late start with their season compared to normal, and that might come as a good thing because they’re taking on a Seattle Kraken team on Wednesday that has gotten blitzed in their last two games after what seemed like a promising start to the year. But what we’ve learned fully is that the Kraken are not quite there yet despite all the moves that were made during the offseason. It also helps they’ve gone full youth movement for the lineup this year and there will be growing pains along the way.

St. Louis’ lone game this year was a 5-2 win over the new-look Columbus Blue Jackets that saw Pavel Buchnevich and Vladimir Taraseno. Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, while Tarasenko continued his ridiculous build-up from last year and scored twice in the victory. Jordan Binnington also got off to a good start with 23 saves.

"I thought the first period was not bad," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We passed up a lot of opportunities to get the puck to the net in my opinion, missed the net on some real good opportunities in the first. I think our game was pretty good. We had good energy. I thought we were on top of things for the most part. Second period, we got sloppy and let them back in the game."

The Blues are always one of those teams where you have to wonder for a bit how they’re going to look. It’s going to be weird without David Perron on this group (now in Detroit) but there’s a lot of young talent to suffice and make this team a dangerous one in the Central Division. Whether they can keep this kind of confidence and keep it forward remains to be seen, but they’re a team I’m very much looking forward to watching the rest of the way.

The Kraken did everything right in the first two games. They got out to a lead in Anaheim and ended up escaping with just a point, and then followed that with a win over the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1. That’s since gone sour with Seattle losing 5-2 to the Vegas Golden Knights, as well as a 5-1 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes. In the latter one, Philipp Grubauer gave up those five goals and Andre Burakovsky scored to extend his point streak. Other than that, nothing else to report on.

"You make mistakes against good teams, especially when they put you under pressure, that's going to come back to haunt you," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "That happened to us tonight. There are several different points in the hockey game where that happened. We took three minor penalties in a row in the middle of a second, but what led to the first one of those was a turnover and we track on that play. It's little things that got us, and that's what happens against good teams."

Don’t overthink this one. Just because the Kraken are at home doesn’t mean anything right now. Two home games, they’ve given up. St. Louis in a rout. Blues win 5-2

Blues are 20-12 following a non-conference game the last three years.

Blues are 23-17 off a home win the last three season.

Kraken are 10-16 off a home loss in their history.

Kraken are 9-17 after allowing five goals in their history.

Blues:

Brandon Saad -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Jordan Kyrou

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Jake Neighbours -- Brayden Schenn -- Ivan Barbashev

Alexey Toropchenko -- Noel Acciari -- Nathan Walker

Nick Leddy -- Colton Parayko

Torey Krug -- Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola -- Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington

Kraken:

Jaden Schwartz -- Alex Wennberg -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Brandon Tanev -- Yanni Gourde -- Jordan Eberle

Jared McCann -- Matty Beniers -- Andre Burakovsky

Ryan Donato -- Shane Wright -- Karson Kuhlman

Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak -- Justin Schultz

Carson Soucy -- Will Borgen

Philipp Grubauer

Points: Two tied -- 2

Goals: Vladimir Tarasenko -- 2

Assists: Brayden Schenn -- 2

Goalie: Jordan Binnington -- 1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .920 SV%

Points: Andre Burakovsky -- 5

Goals: Andre Burakovsky -- 2

Assists: Andre Burakovsky -- 3

Goalie: Philipp Grubauer -- 0-1-1, 4.27 GAA, .851 SV%