St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado Avalanche (5/25/22) Betting Odds, Prediction, Line Combination, Starting Goalies

By Scott Steinberg | May 25, 2022, 7:37am

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The Colorado Avalanche defeated the home team St. Louis Blues, 6-3 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their second round series. Nazem Kadri had his first career playoff hat trick in the Avalanche’s victory. Additionally, Bowen Bryan and Valeri Nichushkin each had two assists for Colorado. The Avalanche are now 4-0 on the road in the 2021-22 postseason.

St. Louis is +8000 to win the Stanley Cup this season; the Blues won their only Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2018-19. The Avalanche had the best record in the Western Conference this season at 56-19-7 with 119 points. Colorado is the favorite to win the 2021-22 Stanley Cup at +135; the Avalanche have won two championships since moving from Quebec to Colorado in 1995.

St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado Avalanche Betting Odds

St. Louis is +1500 to upset the number one seeded Colorado Avalanche in the second round. The Blues are 10-3 straight up in their last 13 games on the road. The Avalanche is -3000 to advance the to advance to their first conference finals since 2001-02. Per NHL.com, teams that take a 3-1 lead (as Colorado has over St. Louis) are 296-31 (.905) winning a best-of-seven NHL playoff series. The total number of goals has gone over in four of Colorado’s last six games. The Avalanche are 10-3 straight up in their last 13 games at home.

St. Louis Blues Analysis

David Perron scored two goals in the Game Four loss to the Avalanche. He leads the club in goals (nine) and points (13) in this season’s playoffs. Ryan O’Reilly, the 2018-19 Conn Smythe Trophy winner is second on the team in goals (seven) and points (12) this postseason. He’s a +3 while skating 21:23 per contest in the 2021-22 playoffs. Pavel Buchnevich scored a goal and an assist in the Blues loss on Monday evening. In 10 postseason games in 2021-22, he’s scored nine points (one goal and eight assists). Jordan Kyrou was impressive this season scoring 75 points in 74 games. The 23-year-old center had four game winning goals and 19 points on the power play. Kyrou has seven points in the 10 postseason contests this season. Vladimir Tarasenko led the Blues in scoring this season with 82 points (34 goals and 48 assists) in 75 games. The dangerous winger was a +9 with 22 points on the power play and scored a team leading nine game winning goals in 2021-22. Through 10 postseason games this year, he has scored five goals; he has 40 career playoff goals.

Justin Faulk was the leading scorer for all Blues defensemen with 47 points (16 goals and 31 assists) in the regular season. Additionally, he led St. Louis in plus/minus at +41 while averaging 23:12 of ice time per game. Faulk has six assists through 10 postseason contests while averaging 25:39 of ice time.

Goalie Jordan Binnington is out indefinitely due to a knee injury suffered in Game Three after a collision with Colorado’s Nazem Kadri. He was 4-1 in the playoffs with a 1.72 GAA. Ville Husso made 31 saves in the Game Four loss to the Avalanche. In five playoff games (four starts) in 2021-22, Husso has an .884 save percentage (137 saves on 155 shot attempts) and a 3.76 GAA.

Colorado Avalanche Analysis

After missing the last five periods of the first round due to an eye injury, goalie Darcy Kuemper has played well in the second round series against the Blues. He made 17 saves in Colorado’s win on Monday night. In seven postseason games in 2021-22, he has a save percentage of .917 with a 2.14 GAA: fifth in the NHL. The Avalanche goalie is +2000 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Cale Makar leads all NHL defensemen in playoff scoring with 12 points (three goals and nine assists). Additionally, he’s a +6 while averaging 26:17 of ice time in the postseason. He’s the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at +450. Devon Toews is a +6 while averaging 25:39 of ice time per game in the playoffs. He has four goals in the playoffs, two behind Rob Blake’s six goals in 2001 and 2002 for the most by an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques defenseman in a single postseason, per NHL.com.

Nathan MacKinnon is +550 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, he’s tied for the team lead in postseason goals with five. Overall, in eight playoff games he has nine points. MacKinnon is also a +4 in the postseason while averaging 21:13 of ice time per contest. Gabriel Landeskog returned from knee surgery in round one vs. Nashville and has tallied 10 points (five goals and five assists) in eight postseason games in 2021-22. The Avalanche captain is currently +1600 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. Nazem Kadri has scored 10 points (five goals and five assists) in eight playoff contests for the Avalanche this year. Additionally, he’s a +8 averaging 18:51 of ice time per contest. Mikko Rantanen led the Avalanche in scoring this season with 92 points (36 goals and 56 assists) while being an impressive +35. Through eight playoff games in 2021-22, he has 10 points (one goals and nine assists). Rantanen is +2200 to win the Conn Smythe Award.

St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado Avalanche Picks & Prediction

During the regular season, St. Louis scored 3.8 goals per game, ranking them third in the NHL. Through 10 playoff games, the Blues have scored 33 goals: 3.3 goals per game. St. Louis is 2-7 straight up in their last nine games when playing on the road in Colorado against the Avalanche. Colorado defeated St. Louis in a four-game sweep last season. In the regular season, the Avalanche averaged 3.8 goals per game, fourth in the league. Through their eight playoff games, they’ve scored 36 goals. The total number of goals combined has gone over in eight of Colorado’s last 10 games against St. Louis.

The Avalanche are the best team in hockey, and I see them wrapping up this series in five games against the Blues, winning Wednesday evening 4-1. Colorado will cover the 1.5 goal spread as the clubs combine for under 6.5 goals.

St. Louis Blues Vs. Colorado Avalanche Starting Goalies & Line Combination

Scott Steinberg

Scott has been a sports fan since he received a New York Mets jacket as a toddler. He’s been playing fantasy baseball and football for over 20 years, dating back to Frank Thomas being one of his first fantasy baseball picks. As a professional, he has covered the NFL, MLB, NCAAF, and NCAAB and is looked to as the go-to guy for fantasy sports amongst family, friends, and co-workers.