Golden Knights vs Avalanche: NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction
Sam Hodde/Getty Images. Pictured: Alexandar Georgiev and Nathan MacKinnon.
Golden Knights vs. Avalanche Odds
| Golden Knights Odds | +115 |
| Avalanche Odds | -140 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 -102 / -120 |
Here are the latest NHL odds for the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, January 10th, including a pick a prediction.
Two Western Conference heavyweights will go head-to-head on TNT on Wednesday when the Avalanche host the Golden Knights. As the last two Stanley Cup winners, both sides have designs on getting back to the top of the mountain this spring. That road could very well go through each others' arenas, so this matchup carries a little extra significance.
In recent games, Colorado is trending upward while Vegas is going through a bit of a rough patch. Both sides are seeing their roster depth tested while dealing with injuries, and while the Golden Knights are expecting their Cup-winning goalie Adin Hill back between the pipes this week, they'll still be in tough against an Avalanche squad that will likely have revenge on its mind.
Here's my NHL preview and Golden Knights vs. Avalanche pick.
Are the Golden Knights suffering from a delayed-onset Stanley Cup hangover? After capping off an 11-0-1 start to the season with a 7-0 win over the Avalanche on Nov. 4, they've gone a pedestrian 12-12-4 in the two months since that game.
The trend has gotten even worse recently. Vegas has lost seven of its last 10, all in regulation. The team's expected goals share at 5-on-5 has slipped to 49.34%, 17th in the league. And over that stretch, the Golden Knights have scored just 2.80 goals per game while giving up 3.90, and their penalty kill has dipped to a grim success rate of just 62.5%.
Over their history, Vegas has seemingly been immune to goaltending issues, especially during its playoff run last year. But after Hill got them to their first championship, he has been missed while dealing with an injury that dates back to early December.
Still leading all goaltender with 13 or more games played in both goals-against average and save percentage, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said that Hill will return this week — either against the Avalanche on Wednesday or back in Vegas against the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Defenseman Zach Whitecloud also looks set to return after missing Vegas's 5-2 win over the New York Islanders last Saturday with an upper-body issue. But other players remain sidelined, most notably forward William Karlsson and defenseman Shea Theodore.
The Avalanche continue to lean hard on their top players, but have powered their way to the upper-reaches of the NHL standings with a record of 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
In net, Alexandar Georgiev is about as sure a thing as you'll get in the NHL these days. He has started 10 of Colorado's last 11 games and was called into action midway through the 11th, after Ivan Prosvetov gave up four goals on 13 shots to the Florida Panthers in his first start since Dec. 16.
Georgiev is 22-9-4 for the year and sits at 3.4 goals above expected. Lately, he has specialized in making one more save than his opponent: Colorado's last three wins have all come beyond 60 minutes.
Up front, Nathan MacKinnon is on fire and making his case for the 2024 Hart Trophy. He was named the NHL's first star of the week twice in the last four weeks, and his 37 points in 19 games between Dec. 1 and Jan. 8 lead all other players by a mile. Nikita Kucherov is second with 28 points.
Skating in a dream spot alongside MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, Jonathan Drouin has picked up the pace lately with five points in his last four games. And Logan O'Connor is on a four-game point streak on the second line, skating with Valeri Nichushkin and Ross Colton.
On the shelf for the Avalanche: Josh Manson missed Monday's 4-3 overtime win over Boston with an undisclosed issue, but it's not believed to be serious. Also on the blue line, Bowen Byram is out for a week or two with a lower-body issue. And up front, the Avs are most notably missing Miles Wood and Artturi Lehkonen.
Colorado's 5-on-5 possession game is only a bit better than Vegas's over the last 10 games, checking in at 50.37%. But since Dec. 15, the power play has been connecting at a blistering 36.2% as the Avs average an impressive 3.82 goals per game.
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Golden Knights vs. Avalanche
Betting Pick & Prediction
Since the Golden Knights entered the league, they've gone 10-12-1 against Colorado. Factor in that 4-2 series win for the Golden Knights in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs and there isn't much to differentiate between these two sides.
The Golden Knights are a better team than their recent record suggests. They'll be the better-rested squad, could have Hill back in net and certainly should have no trouble getting up for the game, given the intensity of the rivalry between the two sides.
But in addition to being the hotter squad right now, the Avs are an impressive 17-5-0 on home ice this season and will be looking to exact a measure of revenge for the 7-0 beatdown they suffered at T-Mobile Arena back in November.
Colorado is a significant favorite on the moneyline, at -142, and rightfully so. Look for MacKinnon to deliver a statement game and hit top spot in the NHL scoring race as the Avs claim a multi-goal win and even their season series against the defending champs.
Pick: Avalanche -1.5 (+170 at DraftKings) | Play to +150
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