New Jersey Devils vs St Louis Blues Odds, Picks & Predictions — Saturday, February 28, 2026

A coin-flip line with two teams spiraling in different ways

If you’re searching “New Jersey Devils vs St Louis Blues odds” because this game feels like a trap, you’re not imagining it. The books are hanging basically a pick’em, and yet the storylines couldn’t be more lopsided: New Jersey rolls into St. Louis on a five-game skid, while the Blues—messy overall—just popped Seattle 5-1 at home and have that “we’re not dead yet” energy in the building.

That’s what makes Devils vs Blues interesting for betting: it’s not a clean handicap. Both teams have nearly identical ELO (Devils 1429, Blues 1430), both are scoring 2.6 goals per game on average, and both have been bleeding points lately (Blues 2-8 last 10; Devils 3-7 last 10). The difference is how they’re getting there—New Jersey looks like a team pressing and running out of answers, while St. Louis looks like a team that can still spike a game when the puck luck swings.

So when you see New Jersey priced around {odds:1.89}–{odds:1.91} and St. Louis around {odds:1.91}–{odds:1.99} depending on the shop, the question isn’t “who’s better?” It’s “who’s being priced like they’re better, and why is the market arguing with itself?”

Matchup breakdown: similar ELO, very different vibes

On paper, this is tight. ELO is basically dead even (1430 vs 1429). Both teams average 2.6 scored. But the defensive trend lines aren’t equal: St. Louis is allowing 3.4 per game, New Jersey 3.1. That matters for totals and for whether you can trust either side to protect a lead late.

Form-wise, New Jersey’s last five is all losses (0-5) and they’ve managed just three goals total in their last three games (1-2 vs Buffalo, 1-3 vs Islanders, 0-3 vs Columbus). That’s not just “bad shooting luck”—that’s a team that’s struggling to generate the kind of looks that turn into repeatable scoring. Meanwhile, St. Louis has been chaotic (2-3 last five), but their home games have been fireworks: 5-1 vs Seattle, 5-4 vs Florida, even the loss to Columbus was 5-3. If you’re building a read for “St Louis Blues New Jersey Devils spread” or totals, that home scoring profile matters.

Style clash wise, you’ve got one team (Devils) that typically wants pace and clean zone entries, but right now looks like it’s playing tight and getting stuck on the perimeter. The Blues aren’t a perfect defensive team by any stretch, but they’ve shown they’ll turn home games into track meets when the opponent can’t finish. That’s where the matchup gets uncomfortable for New Jersey: if you’re already struggling to score, a game that gets loose can still punish you—because you might need 3+ to win it, not 2.

The other thing: both clubs have been losing, but St. Louis’s losses have been the “we can score but can’t close” variety (5-6 at Nashville, 4-5 at Dallas). New Jersey’s losses have been the “we can’t get to 3” variety. Those are different problems. One is variance-friendly; the other can be structural.

Betting market analysis: the moneyline’s tight, but the movement isn’t

Let’s talk “New Jersey Devils vs St Louis Blues picks predictions” without pretending we have to pick a side. The market is telling you this is close: DraftKings has Devils {odds:1.89} and Blues {odds:1.93}; FanDuel shows Devils {odds:1.87} and Blues {odds:1.96}; Pinnacle is Devils {odds:1.90} and Blues {odds:1.99}. That’s basically a coin flip with slight shading depending on the book’s risk and clientele.

But the line movement is where the real story is. ThunderBet’s Odds Drop Detector tracked New Jersey drifting hard at an exchange-facing book: Betfair (AU) moved the Devils from 1.77 out to 1.95 (a +10.2% drift). That’s a meaningful reprice—especially when it’s not just one book being weird. When a side gets longer like that, it usually means the early price was too optimistic, or money came in the other way with enough force to make the market respect it.

Even the spread market has a similar “cooling” feel on New Jersey: Polymarket showed Devils spread pricing drifting from 1.33 to 1.43 (+7.5%). That’s not a tiny tick; that’s a sentiment shift. And on the total, the Under price drifted from 1.85 to 1.96 (+6.0%) at Polymarket—basically, the Under got less popular / more expensive to back. That aligns with the exchange consensus leaning slightly over on 5.5.

Now layer in ThunderCloud (our exchange aggregation): consensus win probabilities are Home 49.4% / Away 50.6%, with a low-confidence lean to the away side. That’s important: exchanges are calling it razor-thin, but they’re not pounding the table. When you see “away by a hair” plus a big drift against the away price earlier in the week, it screams “uncertainty,” not “sharp certainty.”

Also worth your attention: the current total is sitting at 5.5 with prices that vary a lot by book. DraftKings lists 5.5 at {odds:1.95}, FanDuel {odds:1.89}, Bovada {odds:1.85}, and Pinnacle {odds:1.99}. That range matters because 5.5 is a key NHL number—half a goal at the wrong price is how you turn a decent angle into a thin one.

Value angles: where ThunderBet is actually seeing edges (and where it’s telling you to chill)

This is the part most preview pages fake. They’ll say “value on X” without showing you what the market is doing across books. We’re not doing that. ThunderBet’s internal read on this matchup is a Strong value rating with AI confidence at 78/100, but the sharp-line alignment is not screaming.

Start with the convergence: Pinnacle++ Convergence signal strength is 23/100 with “home” listed, but crucially, there’s no clean AI + Pinnacle convergence tag here. Translation: our AI likes the home spot more than the market is confirming with a classic sharp move. That’s not a “slam it” situation; it’s a “shop lines and be picky” situation.

Now the fun part: the Trap Detector flagged a medium “Split Line” trap on St. Louis +1.5. Sharp books are effectively pricing the Blues +1.5 like it’s extremely likely (think around {odds:1.35}–{odds:1.36} in this board), while softer books are offering drastically different valuations in adjacent markets. When you see that kind of mismatch, it often means the market is confused about the true game script—whether this is a one-goal grinder or a volatility fest. The Trap Detector’s recommended action is “Pass,” and I get it: +1.5 in hockey is a popular comfort bet, and it’s easy to pay too much juice for the privilege.

Where the platform is more actionable is in the cross-book EV. Our EV Finder is flagging New Jersey moneyline as +EV at a couple of outs (Winamax (FR) EV +14.6%, Codere (IT) EV +14.0%). That doesn’t mean “Devils will win.” It means those books are lagging the consensus price enough that, long-term, that number has theoretical edge—if you can access it and if limits/void rules don’t wreck you. It’s a price-shopping angle, not a vibes angle.

There’s also a +17.4% EV flag on an anytime goal scorer at Ladbrokes (listed as unknown in the feed). Anytime goal markets can be wildly inefficient, but they’re also where books hide margin. If you’re going to play props here, you want to do it with the screen open and compare against sharp reference pricing. This is exactly where ThunderBet’s dashboard becomes the cheat code—if you Subscribe to ThunderBet, you can see the full prop grid across 82+ books and quickly tell whether a “nice number” is actually mispriced or just a trap with extra vig.

One more caution sign: Trap Detector also threw low-level price divergence warnings on Jake Neighbours and Dalibor Dvorsky anytime goal scorer prices, with a “Fade” action. That’s the kind of small edge that saves you money over a season—because the worst feeling in hockey betting is paying a retail premium on a prop the sharper market is already shading the other way.

If you want the quickest sanity check on any angle you’re considering—moneyline, Blues +1.5, total 5.5, or a prop—ask the AI Betting Assistant to compare your book’s price against exchange consensus and our ensemble scoring. It’s the fastest way to avoid betting a number that looks good but is already stale.

Key factors to watch before you bet: rest, schedule spot, and “can New Jersey actually score?”

1) Schedule and energy. The situational angle matters here. New Jersey is in a rough patch and the notes on this spot point to them being in a heavy run of games (third in four nights) coming off a flat 4-1 loss in Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, St. Louis is coming off a dominant 5-1 home win over Seattle and stays home again. Whether you call it rest, travel, or routine, home teams in the NHL tend to look sharper in these back-to-home rhythm spots, especially early.

2) The Devils’ scoring floor. Over the last 10, New Jersey has been described as sitting at a league-low 1.9 goals per game in that span. You don’t need to overthink systems if a team can’t get to 2 consistently. If you’re looking at totals (5.5) or Blues derivatives, you’re really betting on whether New Jersey can contribute to the number—or whether St. Louis has to do it alone.

3) St. Louis volatility. The Blues are averaging 3.4 goals allowed per game. That’s the reason you’ll hesitate to lay a big price or assume a clean defensive performance. Even in games they “should” control, they’ve shown they can hand out odd-man looks and create chaos in their own zone. That volatility is why a total of 5.5 makes sense and why the exchange model total (5.6) is basically saying “don’t be shocked if this plays a touch higher.”

4) Market psychology: the “law of averages” trap. When a team loses five straight like New Jersey, casual money starts sniffing around for the bounce-back. That’s not always wrong—but it’s often overpriced in the number. The fact that the Devils price drifted from 1.77 to 1.95 at a major exchange-facing shop is a big clue that the early “bounce-back” tax got corrected.

5) Keep an eye on late goalie news and total price. With 5.5, the price you pay matters as much as the side. Pinnacle showing 5.5 at {odds:1.99} versus Bovada at {odds:1.85} is a massive gap in edge terms. If you’re playing totals, you should be line-shopping aggressively—this is exactly what ThunderBet is built for.

How I’d approach Devils vs Blues tonight (without pretending there’s one right answer)

If you’re betting this game, treat it like a market puzzle, not a team-strength puzzle. ELO says it’s even. Exchange consensus says it’s even (50.6/49.4). The books are close. The edge—if there is one—comes from price, timing, and not stepping into traps.

• If you like New Jersey: you’re basically playing the “they can’t stay cold forever” angle. Don’t do it at a bad number—use the EV Finder to see whether your book is actually offering an outlier price versus the market.
• If you like St. Louis: you’re leaning into the home spot, the Devils’ scoring issues, and the idea that the market is still not fully pricing the situational edge. Just be careful with the +1.5 pricing—our Trap Detector is basically telling you that market is messy and the juice can be a silent killer.
• If you like the total: understand the tug-of-war: Blues games at home have been higher event, but the Devils are currently dragging games down with lack of finishing. Watch for lineup/goalie confirmation, and shop the best 5.5 price across books.

And if you want the full picture—sharp vs soft splits, exchange consensus, and real-time movement in one place—this is the kind of slate where it’s worth it to Subscribe to ThunderBet and stop guessing which book is hanging the stale number.

As always, bet within your means.