Colorado Avalanche vs St. Louis Blues Series Prediction: Avalanche won't notice another rival

Colorado managed to beat St Louis 4:0 in last year's play-offs. Will Craig Berube's team be able to get revenge now? We predict that the Avalanche won't give their opponents a chance to win again!

Colorado is a significant contender for the Stanley Cup. Before the season, the Avalanche and the Islanders were favorites, but the Islanders failed to make the season, missing the play-offs altogether. Of course, Denver's status as a major championship contender still doesn't guarantee them anything since they've been around the trophy all these years, but the last time they won it was back in the 2000/01 season.

In the season last year, they managed once again to become the strongest team in the Western Conference, six points ahead of their nearest and closest neighbor in the standings. Jared Bednar's team took on Nashville in the first round of the playoffs but ultimately failed to put up much of a fight against the Predators. The Avalanche won their two games at home, 7:2 and 2:1, and then secured a 7:3 and 5:3 win on the road to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup.

St. Louis is a team with a similar destiny to Colorado. Every year the Musicians are among the top contenders, consistently performing well and making the playoffs but constantly failing in the cup battles. The only exception is the 2018/19 season when the Blues failed in the season, still made the playoffs with great difficulty, and eventually made it to the club's first Stanley Cup.

There would be no Stanley Cup for St. Louis this year, by that logic. The reason is that the Musicians had a solid, reliable, and stable regular season, making the playoffs in fourth place in the West. Craig Berube's team had serious problems against Minnesota in the first round, but they still managed to defeat the Wild in six games (4:2), but they will face a much more formidable and experienced opponent.

In both previous playoff series, the Avalanche were stronger, and last year they beat the Musicians with a score of 4:0. The Blue also had better success in the regular season, finishing in the first place compared to fourth place for the Blue-Yellows, and Jared Bednar's men have won twice in their three head-to-head encounters. As a result, we have to bet on Colorado winning the series with a handicap (-2.5) for 2.4.

There's a good chance that the upcoming series won't have any performance problems. Colorado scored seven goals twice in four games against Nashville, and the Avalanche dominated the rest of the games. Although St. Louis managed to beat Minnesota, the Avalanche scored twice and conceded twice as many goals. They allowed 15 goals (2.50 goals per game average) to the Wild in six games. Of course, Jared Bednar's squad has been even more efficient offensively, so we expect Colorado Total Over 23.5.

Colorado and St. Louis are going to be rich in goal-scoring chances. The teams' head-to-head statistics indicate that the last time they scored more than nine goals in a game was in January 2020, when the Avalanche won 7:3. Since then, the rivals have already played 17 games between them, in which there has never been a goal-scoring frenzy. With this in mind, we suggest betting on a total under 9.5.

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