The Colorado Avalanche have opened as heavy -250 favorites over the Arizona Coyotes in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Photo from @Avalanche (Twitter).
- The Colorado Avalanche (No. 2) will be facing off against the Arizona Coyotes (No. 11) in Round 1 of the playoffs
- The Avalanche have opened as -250 favorites in the best-of-seven series
- Read below for the best bet on the Avalanche vs Coyotes series
The Colorado Avalanche will be taking on the Arizona Coyotes in the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche went 2-0-1 in the round-robin round to earn the second seed in the Western Conference, while the 11th-seeded Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators in the play-in round.
The Avalanche have opened as heavy -250 series favorites over the Coyotes. Colorado currently shares the best 2020 Stanley Cup odds of any Western Conference team (tied with Vegas).
Should you trust Nathan MacKinnon’s Avalanche to win Round 1? Can Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper lead his team to another upset victory?
Coyotes vs Avalanche Series Odds
| Team | Series Odds at DraftKings |
|---|---|
| Arizona Coyotes | +205 |
| Colorado Avalanche | -250 |
Odds as of August 8th.
The Avalanche and Coyotes played each other twice during the regular season. Colorado won 3-2 in OT back in October, while the Coyotes shutout the Avs 3-0 in their other meeting in November.
Kuemper Propels ‘Yotes Past Preds
The Arizona Coyotes are playing in the playoffs for the first time in eight years, thanks in large part to the play of elite goaltender Darcy Kuemper. The Arizona netminder posted a .933 save percentage in the qualifying round as the No. 11 Coyotes knocked off the No. 6 Predators in four games.
Darcy Kuemper, you animal. pic.twitter.com/n3dYr3EGpD
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) August 7, 2020
I don’t think it would be fair to say that the Coyotes have no chance of upsetting the Avalanche in Round 1, but it’s going to be very hard for them to defeat Colorado the same way in which they knocked off Nashville.
The Predators outshot Arizona 163-125 in the qualifying round, but couldn’t get much production outside of their first line of Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson. Depth scoring was a strength for the Avs all season, and it was on display in the round-robin round, with eight players recording multiple points in three games.
The Coyotes have their own offensive talent headlined by Taylor Hall and Phil Kessel, but they’re nowhere near as deep as the Avalanche.
Coyotes vs Avalanche Regular Season Stats
| 33-29-8 (74 pts) | Record | 42-20-8 (92 pts) |
| 2.71 (23rd) | Goals/Game | 3.37 (4th) |
| 2.61 (4th) | Goals Against/Game | 2.71 (6th) |
| 19.2% (18th) | Power Play | 19.1% (19th) |
| 82.7% (5th) | Penalty Kill | 81.4% (13th) |
MacKinnon, Rantanen Lead Explosive Avs Offense
The main reason you’re going to want to consider betting Colorado in this series is the explosive talent they have on offense. Nathan MacKinnon finished fifth in NHL scoring this season with 35 goals and 93 points in 69 games, while Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri all finished around the 20-goal mark.
HOLY SCRAMBLE 😱
Nathan MacKinnon somehow avoids the chaos and finds the net! pic.twitter.com/Z8A5WgFMhH
— #StanleyCup Qualifiers on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) August 8, 2020
The Avalanche finished fourth in goals-per-game this season, despite losing 223 man games to injury. Now that the team is fully healthy with three very capable scoring lines, they should be considered the most dangerous offensive team in the West. The fact they beat St.Louis and Dallas in the round-robin before taking Vegas to OT shows you just how dangerous this team is.
Rookie blueliner and Calder Trophy favorite Cale Makar is also going to be a difference maker for the Avalanche. The youngster had six points in 10 playoff games last spring as a 20-year-old and now has a full NHL season and playoff round-robin round under his belt.
What’s The Best Bet?
There were plenty of upsets in qualifying round, but I wouldn’t think too hard about betting Colorado in this series. They were one of the most electric offense teams in the regular season and continued that dominance with nine goals and 113 shots on goal in three round-robin games.
Kuemper is a primary reason why this series could go five or six games, but I don’t think he’ll be enough to pull off an upset. The Avalanche have their own quality netminder in Pavel Francouz, who shutout Dallas in the round-robin and posted a .923 save percentage in the regular season.
The Avalanche are simply a much better team, and with it being a normal best-of-seven series, I don’t see Arizona having what it takes to knock off this Western Conference powerhouse.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche to win series (-250)
Brady is a passionate hockey fan and sports writer with over five years experience specializing in digital media, plus a degree in Broadcast Journalism. His work has been published by outlets such as ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports and Fox Sports.
source https://casinonewsblogger.com/avalanche-vs-coyotes-odds-open-with-colorado-250-favorites/
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