Welcome back to another NHL Predictions here at Last Word On Hockey! Everyday, we provide analysis, insights, and predictions for games around the NHL. The St. Louis Blues continue their three-game road trip in Utah to take on the Mammoth.
NHL Predictions: St. Louis Blues vs Utah Mammoth
Puck Drop: 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
How to Watch TV: FDSNMW, KMOV-TV, Matrix-MW, Utah16
2025-2026 Season Series: 1-1-0
Wednesday night’s stop in Chicago did not go how the Blues had planned. Actually, the first 27 seconds were great! Scoring the earliest they had in the season, the Blues essentially began with a 1-0 lead. That was followed by three power plays in the first period, in which the Blues were unable to score. A 1-1 tie into the second period of play was quickly erased and before the Blues knew how to respond, they were going into the 3rd trailing 5-2. The dominance from Chicago continued and saw them skate to another multi-goal win over St. Louis.
Eerily similar to the season series with Chicago, Utah defeated the Blues in St. Louis in a lopsided victory in October, followed by another one goal win by the Blues just after American Thanksgiving. Both teams still sit below the Stanley Cup Playoff line in the Western Conference, though a win by Utah could slot them in one of the two final wild card spots.
Meanwhile, Utah is also riding the excitement of having just been awarded the 2027 Winter Classic against the Colorado Avalanche. This is obviously the first outdoor game for the Mammoth franchise. After a ‘winter’ classic on the beach in Florida, a beautiful mountain view in January is a welcomed change of scenery.
Consistently Inconsistent
We are just over halfway through the season and the St. Louis Blues have yet to string together a three-game winning streak. There comes a time during seasons like this that general managers need to make a decision on if the team is going to make a push for the postseason or continue to muddle the middle and miss out on improvements to get better for the future. General manager Doug Armstrong should really be considering the latter for St. Louis.
The Blues have been the most consistently inconsistent team this entire year. A couple of wins here and there are usually followed by an equal or more number of losses. Fans and players thought there was some momentum at the start of the new calendar year and were hoping to ride that into Chicago. Unfortunately, poor special teams play and missed chances resulted in the Blues missing out on another key two points.
Defenceman Justin Faulk leads the Blues with 11 goals. 44 games into the season and Faulk has more goals than alleged star forward Jordan Kyrou. When watching St. Louis play, there seems to be no passion to play for each other. The passes aren’t crisp, the players aren’t supporting the goaltenders, and they find ways to lose games they should at least be competitive in. How much longer can this be sustainable for the market in St. Louis?
Mammoth Continue to Climb
In addition to the thrill of hosting their first ever Winter Classic next year, the Mammoth are also a team to be taken very seriously to make the playoffs. They enter tonight as winners in three of the last four games.
A huge reason for this recent success in the play of Dylan Guenther. Guenther has five goals and two assists in his last five games for Utah. In that same time period, St. Louis native Clayton Keller also notched a goal and five helpers. A fun fact is Clayton Keller is one of three St. Louis natives named to Team USA’s Olympic Roster this year.
If Utah is going to continue their run to the postseason, one of two things needs to happen in goal. They either need Karel Vejmelka (19-11-2) to be playing lights out every night OR Vitek Vanecek (2-9-1) needs to step up and play to the caliber he has shown the league he can have.
Prediction:
The attitude of the Blues after their loss to Chicago was pretty dejected. Otto Stenberg scored his first goal in the National Hockey League on Wednesday but even that enthusiasm was sapped by the poor play of the team around him. When something doesn’t go their way, the Blues will find a way to lose a hockey game. To add insult to injury, the goalie tandem and Head Coach Jim Montgomery appear to be caught in some sort of middle school classroom shenanigans. What is happening inside the locker room of the St. Louis Blues?
The opponents of the Blues don’t necessarily matter when the game plan for the other 31 teams in the league is the same against them. Unfortunately, that game plan is actually quite simple. Score early and let them beat themselves. If Utah is able to come out strong and capitalize on one of the many guaranteed mistakes the Blues will make, it should be smooth sailing for the rest of the game.
Prediction: Utah wins 5-2.
Prop Bets:
The over/under for the Blues and Mammoth is 5.5 goals in the game. We have the Mammoth scoring five of their own, so we are going to be taking the over here at -115.
The Blues struggles to score make it just as difficult to pick a prop bet for them. Leading scorer (and rumour of many trades) Justin Faulk is +600 to score tonight. On Utah’s side, Clayton Keller always plays strong against his hometown. We are taking him to score a goal at +175.
Main Photo: Jeff Le-Imagn Images
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