Colorado Avalanche at Tampa Bay Lightning Game 6 Betting Preview/Prop Picks

We have reached the second straight elimination game of the Stanley Cup Finals as the Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Colorado Avalanche. Tampa Bay kept the series alive with a win in Colorado in Game 5, and the Lightning now must win again.

Colorado has now lost as many games in this series as they did in the first three, but they are still 15-4 in the postseason. The Avalanche have been betting favorites since the preseason, and they just need one more win to come through.

The Lightning have repeatedly shown that they can come back in a series, but they still have two big wins to get. Tampa Bay could win its third Stanley Cup title if the Lightning are able to win two more games. 

The Colorado Avalanche are the slim moneyline betting favorites at -119 over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. 

Offense Missing For Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche came into this series scoring 4.5 goals per game in the postseason but have scored just seven total goals since Game 2. Colorado has not been able to generate a ton of chances at even strength, and that has to change in this matchup. 

Cale Makar scored his eighth playoff goal in the third period of Game 5, and he will likely win the Conn Smythe if Colorado wins the series. The Avalanche are usually a great power play team but went 0-2 on the power play in Game 5.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper was solid once again on Friday night, but the Avalanche don’t want to win this series by getting great goaltending. 

Tampa Bay Taking Control

Tampa Bay has started to take control of the puck in the last three games, and the pace of play has bothered Colorado. The Lightning got 35 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy in the Game 5 win, and he is good enough to completely take over a series.

Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat have been taking care of business for the Lightning on offense, and that was the key again in Game 5. Kucherov scored a power play goal in the win, and Palat netted the game-winner, his 11th of the playoffs. 

The Lightning will now have the support of the home crowd in Game 6, but they still have to play the same way to win this game. 

Colorado Clinches the Series

Colorado has to find a way to get this series back to being played at a fast pace, but that just hasn’t been working in recent games. The Avalanche should be able to get that done in this game, though, as they should be playing looser and with less pressure.

Andrei Vasilevskiy has finally started to take control of this series for the Lightning, but Tampa Bay still doesn’t score enough goals every night. Don’t be surprised to see this game have a little more scoring than recent contests, and that favors Colorado. 

Tampa Bay has provided a great battle in this series, but it’s finally time for it to end. Bet the Colorado Avalanche -119 to win Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and close out the series over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Prop Picks

Tampa Bay (+130) UNDER 2.5 Goals

Colorado is allowing 2.8 goals per game on offense, which ranks No. 9 in the league, while killing 79.7 percent of opposing power plays, which ranks No. 15. Scores have gone UNDER in six of the Avalanche’s last seven Sunday games.

With Dunkel predicting a Colorado road victory by the score of 3-2, take the Lightning (+130) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 2.5 goals against Colorado.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (-130) OVER 33.5 Saves

Vasilevskiy recorded 1712 saves on 1868 shots against (.916 save percentage) during the regular season. That percentage has increased to .921 (665 saves, 722 shots against) during the postseason.

With Dunkel predicting the final score staying UNDER the Vegas total, take Vasilevskiy (-130) to finish OVER 33.5 saves against the Avalanche.

Keep up with your latest NHL news coverage and betting pick previews at The Dunkel Index.

All Media on this page by Associated Press.