What had the promise of being a memorable battle between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche has quickly cratered into a one-sided beatdown. The Blues have seen their player suffer since Jordan Binnington was forced out of the series after he was run into by a Colorado player in Game 3. The Avalanche, who are the favorites to win the cup, are trying to advance past the second round for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
St. Louis, which gave the Avalanche all they could handle in the first two games, is looking for motivation. Trailing 3-1 and having to go to Denver to try to keep the Blues’ season alive will be a tough task. When it comes to NHL bettings picks, there are a number of things to look at from the previous games in the series that could help indicate where this game may be headed.
Last games records
Colorado beat the Blues 6-3 Monday night in St. Louis. The Avalanche leads the series 3-1.
Matchup information
Blues at Avalanche Betting Analysis
St. Louis Analysis
The Blues couldn’t take much positive away from the Game 4 loss. What St. Louis can take solace in is the Blues were excellent on the man advantage. St. Louis scored two of its three goals on the power play in the loss.
The Blue also was able to hold a 31-25 edge in faceoffs and 17-12 advantage in blocked shots. What St. Louis couldn’t do was get enough pucks to the net. The Blues were only able to generate 20 shots, which was well below St. Louis’ average of 30.4 shots on goal it generated during the regular season.
David Perron has been St. Louis’ standout offensive threat during the postseason, having scored nine goals. Ryan O’Reilly also has buried seven opportunities for the Blues. Ville Huso has had a tough time in net filling in for Binnington. NHL betting stats show Ville is 1-4 in net with a .884 save percentage.
Colorado Analysis
After struggling in the first two games of the series, the Avalanche has once again appeared to be the juggernaut everyone believed they could be. Colorado has outscored St. Louis 11-5 in the previous two games and has done so with large onslaughts of attacks. In Game 4, the Avalanche held a 37-20 edge in shots on goal.
Nazem Kadri was able to provide one of the more memorable performances of this postseason. A game after being vilified for being the player who ran into Binnington, Kadri recorded his first-ever playoff hat trick. Colorado will want to cut down on its penalties from Game 4. The Avalanche gave away four power-play opportunities.
Updates
Colorado doesn’t have any new injuries of notes. St. Louis defenseman Marco Scandella has a lower body injury and may not play in Game 5.
- The last two games in this series have gone over the total.
- St. Louis is 1-3 as an underdog on the moneyline in this series.
- The Blues saw the over go 43-34 this season.
- Colorado is 2-2 on the puckline in this series.
Blues at Avalanche Betting Preview
NHL betting odds have the Avalanche as a -250 favorite. The Hurricanes are +210 on the moneyline. Others making NHL bettng picks on the over/under will have a total of 6.5 to work with.
Blues at Avalanche Betting Prediction
The St. Louis Blues look the part of a deflated team. Getting run over at home by Colorado last time out has to be disheartening as the series heads back to Denver. What the Blues will have to figure out is if they can rally behind their goaltender.
Colorado’s offense is a juggernaut and will continue to attack in waves. St. Louis needs to try and find a way to play with the defensive discipline they played with during the first two games of the series. How motivated the Blues will be if Colorado goes up early will determine how the rest of this series will play out. The Avalanche should win comfortably to close out the series and inch closer to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.
How to bet on Blues at Avalanche
Bet on Colorado -250.
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