Colorado Avalanche (45-13-4) at Vegas Golden Knights (44-17-4)
After throttling the Golden Knights in Game 1 the Avalanche beat them 3-2 in OT in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in this series that shifts to Sin City.
In Game 3 oddsmakers have Vegas as the slight home favorite at -120 with the Avalanche posted at +100 and a total of 5.5 goals.
The Avalanche beat the Golden Knights 3-2 in an OT thriller in Game 1 after beating them 7-1 in the first game of the series. They have won 11 straight games and in the first round of the playoffs swept the St. Louis Blues outscoring them 20-7.
Colorado led the NHL this season averaging 3.52 goals per game and their offense in the post-season has been on fire averaging 5.00 goals per game.
The Golden Knights have lost four of their last five games and they are in an 0-2 hole in this series. The lone win in their last five games was beating the Minnesota Wild to close out their last series. Vegas scored six goals in that game but in the other four losses in their last five games they have only totaled five goals.
This season in Las Vegas the Avalanche won three of five games against the Golden Knights.
The betting favorite has won the last four games between these teams.
Extra Man Helps
In the 3-2 Game 2 win in OT the Avalanche scored two of their three goals on the power play including the game-winner in the extra period. Brandon Saad and Tyson Jost scored in regulation in the win and Mikko Rantanen netted the game-winner 2:07 into overtime.
Philipp Grubauer (30-9-1 1.95 GAA regular season) was great in goal stopping 39 of 41 shots and he has only given up three goals in the first two games of this series. He ranked second in the regular season in GAA and leads all goalies in the playoffs with a GAA of only 1.66.
Nathan MacKinnon leads all players in the post-season with 13 points and eight goals and he had an assist in Game 2 and in his previous two games had three goals and two assists.
Saad has five goals in the playoffs and has scored one goal in each of his last five games.
The Avs have won their last five road games.
Home Cooking
The Golden Knights look to get back in this series on home ice and while they were tied for the most home wins in the regular season they are only 2-2 at home in the playoffs.
In Game 2 Alec Martinez and Reilly Smith scored in the losing effort and Marc-Andre Fleury (26-10-0 1.98 GAA regular season allowed three goals on 25 shots. Fleury was not in goal in the 7-1 Game 1 loss, as Robin Lehner (13-4-2 2.29 GAA) gave up all seven goals and was out for Game 2 with an undisclosed injury. Fleury will get the start in Game 3 and in the playoffs he has a GAA of 1.86.
The Golden Knight have to avoid the penalty box in this game, as they have given up two goals on the power play in each of the two games in this series.
Mark Stone leads Vegas in the playoffs with four goals and Mattias Janmark and Alex Tuch have three goals apiece. Stone led the team in the regular season with 61 points, but he has failed to register a point in the last four games.
Max Pacioretty had 24 goals on the season to lead Vegas in the regular season but has only scored one goal in the nine playoff games.
Prediction
The Avalanche have won the first two games of this series where they have only given up three goals. Vegas came out firing and outshot Colorado 41-25 and still took the loss. I see them coming out firing again but I sed them losing again. the Avs are playing with a ton of confidence, will play well on both sides of the ice in Game 3, and they have won their last five road games. Vegas will put up a fight and keep it close, but they will take a loss to go down 3-0 in this series.
PICK: Avalanche +100