St. Louis Blues vs. Colorado Avalanche Prediction, NHL Odds
A last second round robin loss in the NHL bubble to the Avalanche was likely on St. Louis’ minds as they exacted some revenge with a 4-1 win in Wednesday’s season opener in Colorado.
After coming into Wednesday as the underdog, the Blues jumped to -233 opening favourites on the NHL odds for Friday’s game with a total of 5.5.
Blues vs. Avalanche 1/15/21 Betting Analysis
These teams were in fairly tight, evenly matched battles last year. The Avalanche edged out the season series with three wins in five games and slightly outscored St. Louis by a combined score of 16-15. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon had nine points (3G, 6A) in the five game season series.
The Blues haven’t produced much offence on the road, dating back to last season, as the over has only hit once in their last seven road games (including Wednesday’s game). St. Louis has only hit the over twice in their last six games in Colorado.
With offensive stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar, the Avalanche are a high scoring team. Colorado has now hit the over in nine of their last 11 games overall and five of their last six at home.
St. Louis Blues
After officially signing free agent Mike Hoffman to a contract earlier in the week, St. Louis had to go without their new sniper because of issues with his work visa, although he is expected to be in the lineup on Friday. It didn’t matter for the Blues though, as they outshot the Avalanche 17-5 in the first period and 32-27 in the game. Oskar Sundqvist had two goals in the win and Jordan Binnington made 27 saves. A couple of players making their St. Louis debuts made an immediate impact. Depth forward Kyle Clifford had a goal, while defenceman Torey Krug was plus-1 with three blocked shots in just over 22 minutes of ice time.
Colorado Avalanche
It started out well for Colorado with Andre Burakovsky burying a power play goal in the first five minutes. That was, however, as much offence as the Avs could muster. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog generated 13 shots between them, but couldn’t find the back of the net, with Landeskog finishing minus-3. Devon Toews was fairly quiet in his Avalanche debut, but it was a nightmare start for Brandon Saad, who finished minus-4 in just over 13 minutes of ice time. Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves on 32 shots faced.
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