In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NBA Model Predictions- Click Here

MLB Model Predictions- Click Here

There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NHL, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchup. That prediction went 1-0 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 10-3

Over/Under Predictions: 5-8

Puck Line Predictions: 7-6

Featured Matchup: 1-0

Three NHL games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for all three matchups can be found below.

Chicago Blackhawks @ St. Louis Blues

Model Predicts- Blues ML, UNDER 6, Blackhawks +1.5

The Chicago Blackhawks will hit the road for just one game on Wednesday night, making a trip to St. Louis, Missouri to battle the Blues.

Chicago enters tonight’s matchup with a rather poor 23-49-5, placing the Blackhawks in last place in the Central Division. Meanwhile, St. Louis owns a 41-32-5 record, good enough for fifth place in the Central but placing the Blues as the first team out of the playoffs in he Western Conference.

St. Louis has some work to do if it wants to gain the final postseason spot in the West, and our model believes they will do themselves a favor tonight by defeating Chicago in a low-scoring game. Let’s dive into why that is.

Chicago Blackhawks

• Come into matchup fresh off loss to Wild

  • Lost game 4-0. Out-shot 37-24 by Minnesota

• Offense has been amongst worst in NHL this month

  • Own 1.13 GF/60 in 5-on-5 situations since April 1st. xGF/60 in same situations is only slightly higher at 1.83

  • Generating 6.83 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes (HDCF/60) in 5-on-5- fewest in NHL

• Expected goalie- Petr Mrazek

  • .919 Save % in 5-on-5 situations. Ranks 40th in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) with +1.9

St. Louis Blues

• Took down Ducks last time on ice

  • Won 6-5 in shootout. Second overtime win in last four games

• Struggling to find consistency down the stretch

  • Have not won consecutive games since March 21/23

  • Offense has been poor in last seven games (2.50 xGF/60 in 5-on-5), but defense has been solid and is due for positive regression (2.52 GA/60 in 5-on-5, 2.32 xGA/60)

• Expected goalie- Jordan Binnington

  • .918 Save % in 5-on-5. Ranks 11th in GSAx (+12.0)

What’s the Play?

Twelve goals were scored the last time the Blackhawks and Blues met, but we agree with our model that this is a good spot to back the under.

Chicago has been one of the worst scoring attacks all season long, and the group has gotten exponentially worse since the calendar flipped to April. The Blackhawks haven’t generated any pressure on net this month, and that trend will likely continue as the Blues have played stout defense and are still due for improvement on that end of the ice.

Additionally, St. Louis has simply been a middle of the pack offense over the course of the last two weeks, and even in a plus matchup, we don’t expect the Blues the get hot scoring the puck. Back the under here.

The Play: Under 6 (-115)

Money Line Trends 💰

• St. Louis Blues- 41-32-5 overall this season, 23-13-2 as the home team

• Edmonton Oilers- 47-24-5 overall this season, 26-8-3 as the home team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Chicago Blackhawks- Under is 45-29-3 this season with average total of 5.68

• St. Louis Blues- Under is 39-32-7 this season with average total of 5.99

Puck Line Trends ➕➖

• Vegas Golden Knights- Puck line is 39-38 this season

💪 Ovechkin breaks record for most 30 goal seasons. Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal of the season on Tuesday, marking his 18th time reaching this milestone and surpassing Mike Gartner for the most 30-goal campaigns in NHL history. This goal was also Ovechkin's 852nd of his career, bringing him within 42 goals of Wayne Gretzky's all-time record. Gartner congratulated Ovechkin on his achievement and wished him luck in his pursuit of Gretzky's record.

🤕 Devils shut down Jack Hughes for rest of season. New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2023-24 season due to a shoulder injury, the team confirmed. He is set to undergo surgery on April 10th, but is expected to be fully recovered for training camp. Hughes, who leads the Devils in goals and is second in points, had previously missed games this season and in previous seasons due to similar injuries.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- What team swept the Houston Astros in four games to win the 2005 World Series?

Question #2- Former NBA star Kevin McHale and former NFL player/coach Tony Dungy both attended what current Big 10 university?

Question #3- What running back led the NFL in rushing touchdowns during the 2006 season, recording 28 in total?

Anyone know what has happened on April 10th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On April 10th…

1982- The Los Angeles Kings make a miraculous five-goal comeback to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of a best-of-five series. Los Angeles found itself down 5-0 in the third period, yet stormed all the way back to tie the game before scoring the game-winning goal in overtime. The Kings would go on to defeat the Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers 3-2 in the series.

1983- Baltimore Orioles legend Eddie Murray records his 1,000th career hit. The milestone hit came in a road game against the Cleveland Indians, a game in which Murray recorded four hits and scored four runs. Murray would end his career with 3,255 hits, currently ranking him 14th on the MLB’s all-time list.

2022- Scottie Scheffler wins the 86th US Masters Tournament. Scheffler took home the green jacket by a wide margin, defeating second place Rory McIlroy by three strokes. The victory was the first for Scheffler at a major, and it came with a record $2.7 million payout.

1. Chicago White Sox

2. University of Minnesota

3. LaDainian Tomlinson