Chicago Blackhawks vs. Colorado Avalanche Prediction, NHL Odds
It’s the second of a back-to-back for the Colorado Avalanche at home on Monday night as they welcome Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Avs are -240 favourites on the NHL odds.
Blackhawks vs. Avalanche NHL Betting Odds
Monday marks the first of four regular-season meetings between the Central Division rivals. Colorado won three of four last year and in those three wins outscored the Blackhawks 14-0. Chicago’s lone victory was 3-2 at home.
Nathan MacKinnon (4G, 4A) led the Avalanche with eight points in the series (three on power play) and was plus-5, while Mikko Rantanen (5A) had five points and a plus-6 rating. Alexandar Georgiev split his two starts with a 1.52 GAA and .925 SV, and Justus Annunen didn’t allow a goal on 61 shots in his two outings. Both remain with the club.
Connor Bedard (2A), Nikita Zaitsev (2A) and Ryan Donato (1G, 1A) led Chicago two points each, but Bedard was a team-worst minus-5. Zaitsev is not currently in the NHL. Petr Mrazek started all four games in net and had a 4.01 GAA and .892 SV.
Colorado is 8-2 in the past eight meetings overall and the under is 7-3 in those, hitting in six straight.
Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago added some veterans around Connor Bedard this offseason, but the Hawks are still a bad offensive team, averaging just 2.44 goals per game, fourth-fewest in the league. They have not scored more than three once during a four-game skid and just twice all season. Those happen to be Chicago’s two wins.
In his second season, Bedard leads the club with three goals and six assists but is minus-2. Bedard, who will be 20 next July, needs one goal to pass Bobby Hull and Jonathan Toews for third place on the franchise’s all-time list among teenagers, which is topped by Eddie Olczyk (49) and Patrick Kane (29).
Petr Mrazek (2-5-0, 3.20 GAA, .893 SV) is the team’s clear No. 1 in net, but it’s possible he doesn’t play Monday as Mrazek was forced to play both ends of a back-to-back over the weekend with No. 2 Arvid Soderblom (0-1-1, 2.52 GAA, .911 SV) feeling under the weather.
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado won its fifth game in a row Sunday night, 5-4 over visiting Ottawa – the Avalanche led 2-0 entering the third and then there were seven goals scored in that period. Casey Mittlestadt was the No. 1 star for the Avs with three assists. Nathan MacKinnon in his 800th career game had an empty-net goal and an assist and has scored in all nine games, becoming the fourth player in NHL history to have at least three season-opening point streaks of nine-plus games career.
Blueliner Cale Makar had an assist and also has at least a point in all nine games. He became the sixth defenceman in league history to start a season with at least a streak that long. MacKinnon and Makar have joined Boston’s Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr (both 15 games in 1973-74) as the second forward-defenceman duo in NHL history to record simultaneous season-opening point streaks of nine games.
Justus Annunen was in net on Sunday, so it should be Alexandar Georgiev (1-3-0, 4.98 GAA, .810 SV) tonight.
