The Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche meet Tuesday in game 1 of the West First Round NHL Playoffs at the Ball Arena. The Nashville Predators enter the playoffs losing five of their last seven games. The Colorado Avalanche enter the playoffs losing six of their last seven games.

The Nashville Predators are averaging 3.2 goals per game and are scoring on 24.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Matt Duchene leads Nashville with 43 goals, Roman Josi has 73 assists and Filip Forsberg has 226 shots on goal. Defensively, the Nashville Predators are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 79.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Juuse Saros has allowed 173 goals on 2,107 shots faced, and David Rittich has allowed 49 goals on 431 shots.

The Colorado Avalanche are averaging 3.8 goals per game and are scoring on 24 percent of their power play opportunities. Mikko Rantanen leads Colorado with 36 goals, Nazem Kadri has 59 assists and Nathan MacKinnon has 299 shots on goal. Defensively, the Colorado Avalanche are allowing 2.8 goals per game and are killing 79.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Darcy Kuemper has allowed 138 goals on 1,754 shots faced, and Pavel Francouz has allowed 51 goals on 608 shots.

The Colorado Avalanche have been one of the top teams in the league from start to finish, and you have to question if the last couple of weeks was just due to a lack of motivation. The Avs are going to be big favorites at home for obvious reasons. However, the Avs finished the regular seas with some seriously poor play, and that includes an overtime loss a couple of days ago to these Predators. In fact, the Predators have won the last three meetings against the Avalanche. This line is insane for a playoff matchup. I’ll take a shot in the dark with the big plus money.