St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche Betting Preview/Prop Picks

Game 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff series between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche is set for Thursday night. Colorado currently holds a 1-0 series lead, and they are looking for a second straight win at home.

St. Louis had an up and down regular season, but this team is always a threat once the playoffs begin. The Blues got past the Minnesota Wild in the First Round, and they are good enough to give the Avalanche a battle.

Colorado is the top seed in the Western Conference, and they have looked the part in the postseason. The Avalanche are a perfect 5-0 so far in the postseason, but they have to play well to beat St. Louis. 

The Colorado Avalanche are the moneyline betting favorites in Game 2 at -239 over the St. Louis Blues. 

Binnington Saving St. Louis

Jordan Binnington was not the Blues' starting goaltender to begin the playoffs, but he stepped up in a big way in the First Round. Binnington then did all he could in Game 1 of this series, and he gives the Blues confidence when he is playing well.

The Stanley Cup winner had 51 saves in the series opener, but his team has to do some scoring while he is playing well. Jordan Kyrou scored on the power play in the third period, but the Blues have to score more than two goals.

Ryan O'Reilly leads the way with six goals so far this postseason, and St. Louis is a capable offensive team. Look for the Blues to take more chances on offense in this matchup.

Colorado Cruising on Offense

The offensive stats for the Avalanche in the playoffs are extremely impressive, and they are now scoring 4.8 goals per game. Colorado has also converted on the power play 37 percent of the time, and they know how to take advantage of a mistake from their opponent.

Cale Makar leads the team with ten postseason points, and that comes from the defensive position. This team is also loaded with offensive weapons, and they will continue to put pressure on Binnington. 

Darcy Kuemper has been terrific in the postseason as well as he is giving up just 1.67 goals against per game. If the Avalanche continue to get great goaltending, then they will be nearly impossible to beat. 

Colorado Skates By St. Louis

It took overtime to decide the series opener on Tuesday night, but the end result was what everyone expected. You can expect a similar performance from the Blues on Thursday night, and they will make things tough on Colorado all series long. 

The Avalanche will try to speed up the tempo of this game yet again, but St. Louis is comfortable playing that style as well. This game could feature more goal scoring than the series opener, but there will be no separation between the teams. 

Colorado is simply playing too well at this time, and they pick up another win. Bet the Colorado Avalanche -239 as they pick up another one-goal win on Thursday night to take a 2-0 series.

Prop Picks

Colorado (+165) OVER 4.5 Goals

Colorado is averaging 3.80 runs goals per game, which ranks No. 4 in the league, while generating 35.0 shots per game, which also ranks No. 4. Scores have gone OVER in six of the Avalanche’s last seven games versus the Blues.

With Dunkel predicting a Colorado victory by the score of 5-4, take the Avalanche (+165) to finish OVER their Vegas team total of 4.5 goals against St. Louis.

Nathan MacKinnon (+115) Anytime Goalscorer

MacKinnon scored 32 goals during the regular season, which ranked No. 2 on the Avalanche and tied for No. 36 in the league. The veteran center also has five goals in five games in the postseason, which ranks No. 1 on the Avalanche.

With Dunkel predicting a win for Colorado while going OVER its team total, take MacKinnon (+115) to score a goal against the Blues.

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