Subscribe
Follow Us
Two Western Conference squads who are quite familiar with one another go head-to-head on the ice as the Colorado Avalanche take on the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. It is about that time to take a look at our NHL odds series where our Avalanche-Canucks prediction and pick will be made.
The road to defending their title of Stanley Cup Champions has been a difficult one to say the least, and as it stands, Colorado enters this one on a four-game losing streak. Not only that, but the Avalanche sit one point behind the final wild-card spot out west. Without a doubt, the time is now for last year's champs to turn the corner and start playing like they are capable of.
On the other side of things, the Canucks definitely weren't at their best the last time they suited up for action and found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-2 blowout at home. Sitting at 16-18-3, the next few weeks before the All-Star Break will prove to be extremely vital for Vancouver's slim hopes of breaking their couple of year-long postseason drought.
Here are the Avalanche-Canucks NHL odds, courtesy of FanDuel
NHL Odds: Avalanche-Canucks Odds
Colorado Avalanche: -1.5 (+146)
Vancouver Canucks: +1.5 (-184)
Over: 6.5 (+100)
Under: 6.5 (-122)
*Watch Avalanche & Canucks games LIVE with fuboTV (Click for free trial)*
Why The Avalanche Could Cover The Spread
At full strength, the Avalanche remain as one of the top overall rosters that professional hockey in North America has to offer. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case for an Avs squad that has limped their way to a 19-14-3 record thus far. Despite the frustrations of the injury bug that has taken its grip within this team's clubhouse, Colorado's hopes remain high that they can take care of business on the road tonight in Vancouver.
Since Colorado enters play extremely shorthanded, receiving an outstanding performance from goaltender Alexandar Georgiev could prove to go a long ways in covering. Over the course of his previous few starts in net, the former New York Ranger has surrendered a whopping 19 goals and is in the midst of a slight funk. Indeed, Georgiev did stop 25 of the 28 shots that Vegas put on him in the loss, but he still wasn't sharp enough to help his squad the dub. With that being said, the outcome of this one may fall on the shoulders of the 26-year-old goalie and his ability to bounce back.
Conversely, it isn't all bad news for Colorado as center Nathan MacKinnon was able to return to play after missing the better part of a month with an upper-body injury. Looking closer at the Avs' struggles, they have been absolutely abysmal on the man advantage going 4-30 when MacKinnon was sideline but have even failed to score on any of their eight opportunities since he returned to the lineup. No doubt, Colorado's power play woes need to be fixed in a hurry as it is often costing them game after game.
Why The Canucks Could Cover The Spread
Article Continues Below
On paper, Vancouver has had problems of their own with three-straight losses and find themselves near the bottom-half of the Pacific Division Standings. Even though the difficulties of finding a way to consistently win games is taking a toll on the club, don't sleep on the Canucks' ability to string together a solid 60 minutes of play that may result in covering the spread.
As it stands, Vancouver has reeled off a 17-20 record against the spread and with the same record through 37 games of last season's disappointing campaign, the best odds for them to reverse this trend of poor play will come from a much better defensive effort. In their previous three losses, the Canucks have surrendered 13 goals combined and need to scheme up a game plan that puts them in a position to prevent teams from scoring at such a high rate. Not to mention, this should only make things easier for Vancouver's offense who has at least done their job in finding ways to score abundantly.
Of course, getting the most out of whoever will be in net should serve as priority number one for the Canucks. This has been a major area of weakness for Vancouver outside of some porous defense, as Vancouver allows the third-most goals in the entire league. Simply put, the Canucks need to put their foot down and execute like they did when they last squared off with Colorado back on Nov. 23rd that resulted in a 4-3 victory.
The biggest X-Factor may end up being center Elias Pettersson, who serves as an integral piece to the second-line attack. Coming into tonight's action, Pettersson is Vancouver's second-best threat with the puck outside of fellow center Bo Horvat and has recorded a team-high 44 points so far.
Final Avalanche-Canucks Prediction & Pick
It is hard to put your trust in either side and they're scuffling ways in late, but when matters get tough like this, it is easier to have faith on the defending champions from a year ago to get the job done in the wake of adversity.
Final Avalanche-Canucks Prediction & Pick: Avalanche -1.5 (+146)
How To Watch Avalanche vs. Canucks
TV: NHLPP/ESPN+
Stream: ESPN+
Time: 10:00 ET/7:00 PT
