Nashville Predators vs. Colorado Avalanche Game 1 Prediction, NHL Odds
The Colorado Avalanche are one of the favourites to win the Stanley Cup this year and they’ll kick off their playoff run at home on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. The Preds were already large underdogs before things took an even worse turn with the announcement that starting goaltender Juuse Saros will miss at least the first two games of the series.
Colorado is a -328 favourite to win Game 1 on the NHL odds, with a total of 6.5.
Predators vs. Avalanche NHL Playoffs Betting Odds
It’s interesting to look back at the season series between these teams, as Nashville actually took three of four games. The Predators won the last three meetings, including a 5-4 shootout last Thursday. All four head-to-heads have hit the Over this year.
Nashville ended the season with losses in four of their final five games, but it’s worth noting they’re 11-3 straight up in their last 14 trips to Denver. The Preds went 44-38 against the spread in the regular season, including 24-17 ATS on the road. The total has gone Over in each of their last five games.
Colorado had the second-best home record in the NHL this year, going 32-5-4 in Denver. They prioritized health over wins near the end of the regular season, however, and dropped six of their final seven games. They’re 39-43 ATS overall, including 23-19 ATS at home. The total has gone Over in five of the Avalanche’s last six games against Nashville.
Colorado is a -667 favourite to win the series, while the Predators are +373 underdogs. The favoured exact series score if for the Avs to win in five games at +240.
Nashville Predators
To put it bluntly, the loss of Saros is devastating for this team. Already large underdogs heading into the series, the Predators will now be forced to play without their starting goaltender for at least Games 1 and 2. Saros, whose 38 wins this season was the most ever for a Nashville goalie not named Pekka Rinne, left Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss against Calgary favouring his leg. It will either be veteran backup David Rittich or rookie prospect Connor Ingram starting Game 1, although the edge likely favours the veteran. Rittich produced a 6-3-4 record this season with a 3.57 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. He was also in net for the shootout win over the Avs last week. Ingram has only started three career NHL games, picking up one win. He was 30-17-7 with a 2.70 GAA with Milwaukee in the AHL this year.
This will be the Predators’ eighth straight postseason appearance, although they have bowed out in the first round in the each of the last three seasons. They were paced offensively by Norris-candidate defenceman Roman Josi, who led the team and all NHL defencemen with 96 points (23G, 73A). Former Avalanche forward Matt Duchene had a massive bounce-back season in Nashville, recording 43 goals and 86 points, both career-highs. Filip Forsberg also hit the 40-goal plateau, finding the back of the net 42 times and finishing the regular season with 84 points.
Colorado Avalanche
Colorado has been right with Florida all season as arguably the two most talented teams in the NHL. After clinching top spot in the Western Conference, they stumbled in the last week of the season, but this is still a very dangerous team. The Avs’ trademark is their explosive offence, which is averaging 3.76 goals per game, fourth-most in the NHL. Mikko Rantanen led the team with 96 points (36G, 56A). Cale Makar, the Norris co-favourite with Josi, put up 86 points (28G, 58A).
The Avalanche are expected to have captain Gabriel Landeskog back in the lineup for Game 1. Landeskog had 30 goals in 51 games, but hasn’t played since March 10 because of knee surgery. Nazem Kadri is listed as questionable after missing practice on Monday with a non-COVID illness. Kadri had a career-high 87 points (28G, 59A) in 71 games this year. Bank on Nathan MacKinnon being a big factor in this series. Over the last two years, MacKinnon has 40 points in 25 playoff games. Darcy Kuemper gets the Game 1 start in net. Kuemper was 37-12-4 in the regular season, posting a 2.54 GAA and .921 SV.
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