The St. Louis Blues host the Minnesota Wild in the first game of the season on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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With the puck dropping for the start of the NHL season, here is who we project to secure the win in Thursday's action.

Our computer model for this encounter expects a final tally of Blues 4, Wild 2.

The Blues were 12-9-21 in overtime games on their way to a 44-30-8 overall record last season.
St. Louis picked up 43 points (18-9-7) in the 34 games it played that were decided by one goal.
Looking at the 15 times last season the Blues finished a game with just one goal, they had a 1-11-3 record, picking up five points.
St. Louis finished 6-11-2 in the 19 games last season when it scored exactly two goals (registering 14 points).
The Blues were 40-9-4 when they scored at least three goals (to register 84 points).
In the 30 games when St. Louis recorded a lone power-play goal, it went 14-13-3 to record 31 points.
In the 36 games when it outshot its opponent, St. Louis was 22-13-1 (45 points).
The Blues were outshot by their opponent in 46 games, going 21-18-7 to record 49 points.

The Wild posted a record of 12-9-21 in overtime contests last season as part of an overall mark of 45-30-7.
Minnesota picked up 38 points (16-6-6) in its 28 games decided by one goal.
In 21 games last season when the Wild ended up with only one goal, they picked up eight points (3-16-2).
Minnesota picked up seven points (2-8-3 record) last season when scoring exactly two goals .
The Wild picked up 88 points in their 49 games when they scored more than two goals.
Minnesota scored a lone power-play goal in 30 games last season and recorded 38 points.
When outshooting its opponent last season, Minnesota was 19-9-3 (41 points).
The Wild were outshot by their opponents 54 times last season, and took 58 points from those games.

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