Face-off: 2130 ET, 23/03/2022
Arena: Ball Arena
Colorado have rattled off four straight wins to power clear at the top of the Western Conference table and can now take care of Vancouver.
The Canucks are still just about in the hunt for a wild card berth but only one victory in six outings has hurt their hopes of making the playoffs.
Bruce Boudreau’s side do not take many heavy beatings, though, so 6.25 for a home win by exactly two goals heads our Colorado Avalanche vs Vancouver Canucks predictions.
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Colorado Avalanche Odds
After three fairly comfortable triumphs, Colorado did have to work hard to shade Edmonton 3-2 in overtime on Monday.
The Oilers twice cancelled out Mikko Rantanen strikes but Nathan MacKinnon settled the issues just 52 seconds into the extra section.
MacKinnon paid tribute to his teammate, stating: “Mikko’s been amazing all season. He’s one of the best players in the league.
“He always finds a way to score power-play goals. I don’t know what the numbers are, but I feel like every year he’s up there in power-play goals.”
Those words will worry Vancouver, who rank 32nd on penalty kill percentage at 71.3, whereas the Avalanche have the fourth-best power play ratio.
Colorado also tend to start well, outscoring opponents 70-50 in the first period, while the Canucks are 42-63 down.
Looking at the NHL odds, there is obvious appeal in 2.1 for the hosts to lead after 20 minutes.
Vancouver Canucks Odds
Vancouver began the month by completing a hat-trick of victories but Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Buffalo left them at 3-1-2 through six subsequent fixtures.
JT Miller and Bo Horvat helped the Canucks to twice come from behind and earn a point, but Rasmus Dahlin grabbed the decider.
“We talked about how late in the season every team is good, there’s no excuses,” said Miller. “I think they wanted it more than we did.
“Until we figure out a way to come out and take control of the game on our home turf, I think we’re going to have a lot of issues.
“It’s too hard to come back in this league every single game. It’s just more of the same, for me.”
After finishing off a seven-match homestand, Vancouver now face a tough four-game road trip, with visits to Minnesota, Dallas and St Louis coming up.
To be fair, though, the Canucks tend to play with a bit more freedom on their travels, scoring more than once in seven straight away fixtures.
Let’s add 2.95 for Colorado to win in regular time and both teams to net at least twice to our NHL predictions, plus 16.0 for a repeat of November’s 4-2 scoreline when these teams met in Vancouver.
Additional stats
Last result:
COLORADO 3-2 Edmonton (OT)
VANCOUVER 2-3 Buffalo (OT)
Season head-to-head: Vancouver 2-4 Colorado, Colorado 7-1 Vancouver
