Scoreboard	1	2	3	Odds
Colorado Avalanche 38-30-12-2	2	2	1	+6
Calgary Flames 50-25-3-4	1	0	0	+150

Avalanche vs. Flames Game 5 Prediction: NHL Playoffs Betting Odds

The Avalanche, who were swept by the Flames during the regular season, have been the superior playoff team in this matchup in almost every way, winning three games in a row to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Heartbreakingly for Flames fans, two of those wins came in overtime after Colorado had been trailing in the third period.

Avalanche vs. Flames Stanley Cup Playoffs Betting Analysis

Colorado outplayed Calgary when it counted on Wednesday, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to send the game into overtime where Mikko Rantanen found the back of the net to give his club a series lead that the Flames will be hard-pressed to overcome, even on home ice.

The statistics speak for themselves. In the NHL, teams who own a 3-1 lead in a series during the Stanley Cup Playoffs have a series win record of 276-28. Calgary has been in this situation eight times before, down 3-1, and have never come back to win. Not promising, but as we’ve seen already in this postseason, the seemingly impossible can and will happen.

As of this writing, 52 percent of Sports Interaction bettors are taking the Avs to win game 5.

Colorado Avalanche

Before this series started, the consensus seemed to be that the Avalanche simply didn’t have the depth to match Calgary’s. Their performance so far in this series seems like the Avs heard that chatter loud and clear and decided to silence naysayers with a performance for the ages. Nathan MacKinnon is firing on all cylinders, and the Flames look lost in the neutral zone, unable to match the speed and skating of the Colorado club.

Their second and third lines have been effective, but that first line of MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog has combined for six goals, 14 points and 69 shots in just four games. Not bad for a team with so-called depth issues.

Calgary Flames

Here’s a gut-punch of a statistic for you. Johnny Gaudreau is tied with Mike Smith for eighth place in team scoring during these playoffs. One assist each. Not only is Smith tied with Gaudreau for points, he’s also been the most consistent player on the ice for the floundering Flames during this series. But he can’t win games for his team, if his team can’t hold a lead.

Gaudreau tried to maintain some perspective when discussing the importance of tonight’s do-or-die game. “You can’t look to Game 7. You have to look to Game 5 here, and play hard, try to come out with a win here, and then worry about the next game. You can’t look ahead that far.”

The top-seeded Calgary side will try to avoid becoming the second Conference champion team to be eliminated in the first round in these playoffs. Matthew Tkachuk, who has two goals in the series so far, knows his team has been close enough in the last two games to give them hope that they can come back, especially on home ice.

“Two of the last three games we went into overtime and had a chance to win both of them, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. Now all you can control is the way you prepare for tomorrow’s game, and tomorrow, the only thing you can control is how you go out there and perform. We’re still alive. Still believe in ourselves. We’ve won three games in a row a lot of times this year. I believe in this group.”