Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues Betting Preview
The Colorado Avalanche will head to St. Louis to take on the Blues in this Central Division matchup. The puck drop for this game is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. eastern from the Enterprise Center.
The Avalanche are off to a rough start, at just 2-4 through their first six. This comes after a 2020 season where they finished first in their division and were able to make it to the second round of the playoffs. The Blues have started exactly how any coach would like to start a season, a perfect 5-0, and won every game by more than one goal.
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Betting Odds & Lines
BetUs has the Colorado Avalanche as the moneyline favorite at -120. They have the Blues as an even pick.
Over at BetOnline, they also have the Avalanche as the favorite at -117. Both sportsbooks have the total goals at six.
The Avalanche Need to Find Offense
The Avalanche are currently averaging just 2.5 goals per game, which puts them in the bottom ten overall. It just seems like Colorado has solid goaltending and cannot score or score, and their goaltending does not hold up. Once the two pieces get on the same page, we could be looking at a powerhouse.
Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Bowen Byram are currently the top point scorers for the Avalanche. MacKinnon is leading the way with six points, scoring one goal, and assisting on five others. Rantanen and Byram are both at five points, with Rantanen scoring three goals and assisting on two others. Byram has scored a single goal and assisted on four others.
Can the Blues Keep This Up?
Watching this Blues team so far this season, they have looked like one of the best teams in all of hockey. They have done everything very well, offense and defense, both making big plays. Two years ago, when the Blues won the Stanley Cup, the second half of the season felt a lot like this. The Blues seem to be able to do whatever they want and are finding success.
David Perron and Jordan Kyrou are leading the team in points with eight each. Perron has scored six goals and assisted on two others to get to eight points. Kyrou has done the opposite; he has scored two goals and assisted on six others. The Blues have 14 other players who have more than one point to start the season.
Goaltender Matchup
Darcy Kuemper has started five of the six games for the Avalanche. He has a 2-3 record and is giving up 3.22 goals per game. This will be his first year since 2018 where he is a team’s leading goaltender, so adjusting back to that workload seems to be taking a toll.
Jordan Binnington should be in net tonight for the Blues after getting to take the last game off. Binnington has started out the season red hot, allowing just 2.75 goals per game in four starts.
The Picks
These two teams played each other to open the season back on October 16th. The Blues were able to come away with the win by a score of 5-3.
Since that game, it does not seem like the Avalanche have really done a whole lot. They are still struggling to score goals and close games out.
The Blues are on their third game of a four-game homestand. During their first two games, the Blues have outscored their opponents 10-3. They have not played since Monday, getting their guys a couple of days of rest, lookout for them to jump out early and not slow down.
When making your NHL picks, head to BetOnline and take the Blues +106.