The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning meet Thursday in NHL action at the Amalie Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

The Colorado Avalanche Betting Preview

The Colorado Avalanche are averaging 3.1 goals per game and are scoring on 24.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Mikko Rantanen leads Colorado with 34 goals, Nathan MacKinnon has 41 assists and Cale Maker has 141 shots on goal. Defensively, the Colorado Avalanche are allowing 2.7 goals per game and are killing 76.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Alexandar Georgiev has allowed 88 goals on 1,083 shots faced, and Pavel Francouz has given up 38 goals on 470 shots.

The Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Preview

The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 3.6 goals per game and are scoring on 26.3 percent of their power play opportunities. Brayden Point leads Tampa Bay with 31 goals, Nikita Kucherov has 55 assists and Steven Stamkos has 176 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 80.5 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up 97 goals on 1,153 shots faced, and Brian Elliott has allowed 41 goals on 402 shots.

Avs vs Lightning Trends

The Avalanche are 23-11 in their last 34 road games and 131-63 in their last 194 overall. The Lightning are 51-18 in their last 69 home games and 25-11 in their last 36 overall. The under is 5-1-1 in Avalanche last 7 overall. The under is 2-0-3 in Lightning last 5 vs. Central. The Avalanche are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Tampa Bay and 6-2 in the last 8 meetings. The favorite is 19-7 in the last 26 meetings.

Randy’s Free Pick

The Colorado Avalanche in the plus money role is attractive, especially when they’ve proven themselves on the road time and time again. However, I’d need more bang for my buck to take the Avs here. The Tampa Bay Lightning are always going to be favored at home, and the price is reasonably low compared to what we usually get. Give me the Lightning.