Philadelphia Flyers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets November 15 Betting Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers return to Columbus for their second matchup against the Blue Jackets in Ohio in five days. The Blue Jackets and Flyers met on November 10th at Nationwide Arena, with the Blue Jackets getting the 5-2 win. The Flyers and the Blue Jackets are both coming off losses since their last meeting five days ago.

Columbus Blue Jackets Betting Preview

So, CBJ and Ohio hockey fans, we've got some bad news: Patrik Laine is back on the injured list and will be out of the lineup for up to a month. The Blue Jackets have lost four of their last five games.

More bad news: the Columbus Blue Jackets lost their last game. As a result, the Blue Jackets enter Tuesday night's game with a 4-9-1 record.

In their last game, CBJ lost 4-3 in overtime to the New York Islanders. Cole Sillinger opened the scoring with a powerplay goal. The Islanders and Blue Jackets then exchanged goals, with Emil Bemstrom and Marcus Bjork scoring for the Blue Jackets. Joonas Korpisalo made 42 saves in the loss.

Notably, the Blue Jackets three goal scorers all scored their first goals of the season against the Islanders. If CBJ wants to win, they'll need all the scoring possible from their depth forwards.

Joonas Korpisalo has started the last three games since returning to the lineup. Korpisalo has a 1-1-1 record with a 3.66 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. We'd likely start Korpisalo, who got the win against the Flyers five days ago, but he can't start every game.

This leaves us thinking Elvis Merzlikins will get the start against the Flyers. Merzlikins has a 2-5-0 record, with a 4.82 goals-against average and a .863 save percentage.

Johnny Gaudreau remains the Blue Jackets' top scorer (six goals, six assists) and will need to continue to be the Blue Jackets' offensive engine for CBJ to collect more wins. CBJ is averaging 2.71 goals per game and 4.36 goals against per game.

The powerplay scored their third powerplay goal of the season against the Islanders, improving their conversation rate to 8.1%. The penalty kill has only given up eight powerplay goals and is killing 80% of Columbus' penalties.

Philadelphia Flyers Betting Preview

The Philadelphia Flyers have lost their last three games and have struggled to score in those three games. The Flyers enter Tuesday night's game with a 7-6-2 record.

Since leaving Columbus, the Flyers returned home and lost to the Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars on back-to-back nights, scoring one goal in both games.

The Philadelphia Flyers are averaging 2.47 goals per game and 2.87 goals against per game. The Flyers' special teams are average; the powerplay has scored eight goals and operating at 16%, while the penalty kill has given up eleven goals and operating at 77.6%.

Carter Hart is the Flyers' number one goalie but has struggled recently since starting the season 5-0, but was in net for the 5-2 loss to CBJ. Hart has a 6-2-2 record with a 2.18 goals-against average and a.937 save percentage. We expect Hart to get the start for the Flyers against CBJ, as backup goalie Felix Sandstrom played in the Flyers' last game against the Dallas Stars.

Flyers vs. Blue Jackets Odds

The Columbus Blue Jackets are listed at (-106) odds, while the Philadelphia Flyers are the moneyline favorite, with very close odds to CBJ listed at (-115).

The Flyers have a 10-5 record against the spread, while the Blue Jackets are 5-9 against the spread, with the spread currently being set a 1.5 both ways, respectively. 

Our Prediction

We're looking at this game's moneyline or total goals line for our bets and predictions.

We like Carter Hart and Joonas Korpisalo to keep this game to the under, despite the over-hitting in the Flyers and Blue Jackets meeting with both goalies in the net. The Flyers and Blue Jackets are both struggling to score recently.

This game is tough to call, and the moneyline odds reflect that. We'll pick CBJ and Joonas Korpisalo to win on the moneyline at home. This game is a toss-up, but we're riding with our Blue Jackets and hoping they get their second win against the Flyers in five days.