The Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks meet Sunday in NHL action at the Honda Center. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Colorado Avalanche are averaging 3.3 goals per game and are scoring on 25.3 percent of their power play opportunities. Mikko Rantanen leads Colorado with 52 goals, Nathan MacKinnon has 67 assists and Cale Makar has 176 shots on goal. Defensively, the Colorado Avalanche are allowing 2.7 goals per game and are killing 79.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Alexandar Georgiev has allowed 146 goals on 1,782 shots faced, and Pavel Francouz has given up 38 goals on 470 shots.
The Anaheim Ducks are averaging 2.5 goals per game and are scoring on 15.9 percent of their power play opportunities. Trevor Zegras leads Anaheim with 22 goals, Troy Terry has 35 assists and Frank Vatrano has 218 shots on goal. Defensively, the Anaheim Ducks are allowing 4.1 goals per game and are killing 72.5 percent of their opponent’s power plays. John Gibson has given up 196 goals on 1,948 shots faced, and Anthony Stolarz has allowed 51 goals on 494 shots.
The Avalanche are 21-6 in their last 27 games playing on 0 days rest and 51-22 in their last 73 road games. The Ducks are 15-38 in their last 53 home games and 27-75 in their last 102 overall. The over is 4-0 in Avalanche last 4 overall. The under is 4-1 in Ducks last 5 overall. The Avalanche are 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Anaheim and 8-1 in the last 9 meetings. The road team is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings. The favorite is 40-18 in the last 58 meetings.
The Colorado Avalanche are head and shoulders the better team, and they’ve been a buzz saw on the end of a back to back. The Anaheim Ducks don’t play a lick of a defense, and playing at home doesn’t help. Give me the Avalanche and the PL for max betting value, as backing the Ducks isn’t an option.