The Boston Bruins and Columbus Blue Jackets will play the second game of a home-and-home series tonight at Nationwide Arena. The Bruins took the first game at home, 5-2, which was the BJs' sixth-straight loss and the Bruins’ 16th win in their last 20 games.
Can the Bruins keep pace with the Lightning and Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division? Can Columbus get back on track and find a win at home where they are 3-2 SU in their last five? Find out in our free NHL picks and predictions for Bruins vs. Blue Jackets.
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Bruins vs Blue Jackets odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
The Bruins opened at -230 on the ML and have since moved 20 points to -250 with a total of 6.5. The Saturday meeting saw the Bruins close as -380 home favorites with a total of 6.5. Boston closed as -255 road favorites in a 5-4 shootout win in Columbus in early March that had a closing total of 6.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until puck drop and be sure to check out the full NHL odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Bruins vs Blue Jackets predictions
- Prediction: Blue Jackets +1.5 (-123)
- Prediction: Over 6.5 (+109)
- Best bet: DeBrusk Over 0.5 points (-105)
Predictions made on 4/04/2022 at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Bruins vs Blue Jackets game info
• Location: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
• Date: Monday, April 4, 2022
• Puck drop: 7:00 p.m. ET
• TV: Bally Sports Ohio, NESN
Bruins vs Blue Jackets betting preview
Key injuries
Bruins: Craig Smith F (Questionable).
Blue Jackets: Zach Werenski D (Probable), Yegor Chinakhov F (Out), Joonas Korpisalo G (Out).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Bruins vs Blue Jackets head-to-head record sicne 2018-19
Bruins: 8-5 SU, 40 goals for.
Blue Jackets: 5-8 SU, 32 goals for
Betting trend to know
The Over is 5-0-1 in the Blue Jackets’ last six games playing on one day’s rest. Find more NHL betting trends for Bruins vs. Blue Jackets.
Bruins vs Blue Jackets picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Puck line analysis
The Boston Bruins take their league-best point percentage (.773) since the All-Star break into Columbus tonight and take on the struggling Blue Jackets who are fading down the stretch, having dropped six straight games. The Bruins handed Columbus the most-recent loss with a 5-2 win on Saturday that was a little closer than the final indicated.
The Bruins broke a 2-2 tie in the third and then tallied a pair of empty-net goals that had the Boston puck line and Over bettors thrilled. Boston was a -380 favorite in that game and enter tonight as -250 road favorites. The Bruins closed as -255 road favorites in the last meeting in Columbus back on March 5 in a game that Columbus scored with three seconds left to force OT.
The Jackets have played Boston decently in those two meetings and will get defenseman Zach Werenski back tonight after the rearguard missed the last nine days. Werenski might be the most important skater on this team and his addition is likely worth 10 points. He had a power-play goal, four shots, and played over 30 minutes in that March 5 meeting versus the Bruins.
We’re not jumping fully on the Columbus ML at +200 as the Boston top-six are playing their best hockey but Columbus can score in this matchup and have a Top-10 home offense on the season at 3.63 goals per game.
Linus Ullmark will be in charge of stopping this Columbus offense. The Boston goalie has won four straight starts but has been beatable with a .914 SV% since the All-Star break.
The Blue Jackets are a better team at home with an 18-14-3 record on the season which is in contrast to their 14-20 SU road record.
Boston is no doubt the better team coming into this matchup and one of the hottest teams in the league but Columbus has played them hard in the two meetings this season.
Saturday’s score wasn’t indicative of the game and getting a team that scores like the BJs can at +200 at home is a tough price to pass up, especially with the Bruins playing in Detroit tomorrow.
Prediction: Blue Jackets +1.5 (-123 at CoolBet)
Over/Under analysis
If you hit the Over 6.5 in the Saturday meeting between these two clubs, we hope you got yourself a lottery ticket. The game was knotted up at 2-2 with under four minutes to go and finished 5-2 thanks to a pair of empty-net goals from the Bruins.
The game, however, finished with 7.65 xgoals and the Bruins piled up 42 shots on net. The game also weirdly featured just two power plays and with some familiarity here tonight, we could possibly see some more PP opportunities.
That should have the Bruins' power play excited as the Blue Jackets have the league’s second-worst penalty kill over the last 30 days at 65.7%. Columbus has allowed 10 power-play goals over their last 10 games and Boston's power play is heating up now that Patrice Bergeron is healthy again.
Both clubs proved on Saturday that they can score on 5-on-5. The Bruins rank No. 1 in xgoal% at 5-on-5 and both clubs rank in the Top 15 of the league in even-strength goals scored with the Blue Jackets actually ranking better than Boston.
Only the Devils have allowed more 5-on-5 goals than Columbus this season while the Jackets actually rank dead last in xgoals against.
Boston comes into this matchup having hit the Over in four straight games as the Bruins have seen 35 total goals in those five games. Columbus has hit the Over in seven of their last 10 games and in four straight home games.
Columbus sees an average 7.01 total goals per game at home this season compared to 6.70 total goals per game at home. The Jackets are just one of three teams that see an average of more than 7.00 goals per game on home ice.
The Bruins are rolling with two elite scoring lines right now with Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk and Pastrnak-Haula-Hall while the blue line is also chipping in with Charlie McAvoy recording seven points over his last four games.
Werenski getting back in the lineup will help this Columbus power play as well. The D-man had a PP goal in the March 5 meeting and had recorded a point in 14 of his 17 games before the injury.
Let’s ride this hot Boston offense and a Columbus offense that lights the lamp on home ice.
Prediction: Over 6.5 (+109 at CoolBet)
Best bet
Jake DeBrusk has been enjoying playing alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the Bruins’ top line of late. The winger has points in four straight and multi-point efforts in back-to-back games.
The Blue Jackets power play has been awful lately and although DeBrusk is getting just PP2 time, scoring against Columbus at even strength has been easy all season as they rank as the second-worst team in GAA at 5-on-5.
DeBrusk has a goal in four straight and even if he can’t find the back of the net, picking up an apple on a Marchand or Bergeron goal would get us across the line as well. This is great value on a top-line winger.
Pick: DeBrusk Over 0.5 points (-105)
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