Colorado Avalanche Travel to Las Vegas to Face the Golden Knights Saturday

The Colorado Avalanche will travel to the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night to take on the Vegas Golden Knights in a Western Conference matchup. This will be the final of three games this season as they split the first two games so far this year with the road team winning each game. The Avalanche are leading the Central Division (36-10-4, 76 points) this season while the Golden Knights are second in the Pacific Division (29-18-4, 62 points) so far. 

Both Colorado and Vegas will be on the second half of a back-to-back in this game so exhaustion could be a factor in this game. Center Nazem Kadri and goaltender Darcy Kuemper should be the better options in this game for Colorado while centers Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault should do well for Vegas. 

How High Can Colorado Get?

The Avalanche have been an excellent offensive team as they are averaging 3.92 goals on 35.2 shots per game. The offense has been going through center Nazem Kadri as he is tied for fourth in the NHL in points and fourth in the league in assists with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) so far this year. He has been doing decently well in his last five games with three points scored during that stretch. Colorado has been doing extremely well as they have scored 43 power-play goals this season. 

On the defensive side this season, the Avalanche are allowing 2.80 goals on 30.9 shots per game so far. Starting goalie Darcy Kuemper has been doing extremely well so far as he is 25-6-2 with 2.40 goals per game allowed and a .919 save percentage. They need to be better than a below league average 77.2 percent of penalty kill if they want to be viewed as a top team and lead the way in the Western Conference. 

Bright Lights in Vegas

The Golden Knights need to step up a little bit more as they are scoring 2.80 goals on 30.9 shots per game this season. Center Chandler Stephenson has been leading the Golden Knights as he has scored 40 points (13 goals, 27 assists) this season, including scoring 21 of those points at home so far. The Golden Knights have been struggling a bit as they have a 19.1 power-play percentage this season. 

Vegas has given up 2.92 goals allowed per game on 30 shot attempts against them so far and Robin Lehner is dealing with an upper-body injury but should be well enough on Saturday. He is 19-13-1 this year with 2.86 goals per game given up and a .907 save percentage up to this point. The Golden Knights are league average as they are killing 79.4 percent of all penalties on the defensive side this season as well.

What Should We Bet on Avalanche and Golden Knights?

The major difference as of late has been the ability to score the puck as Colorado is averaging three goals in their last four games while Vegas is scoring 2.2 goals in their previous five games. Vegas is 22-29 ATS so far this season while Colorado is a manageable 25-24 ATS right now. With goalie Robin Lehner dealing with an injury this week and the Avalanche being well offensively, go with Colorado to cover the puck line and the over to hit.

* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.