After such an incredible stretch of wins and points, it’s hard to fathom that the Avalanche still find themselves four points out of first place in the West Division with five games remaining. However, the Avalanche still control their own destiny – win all five games and they’re division champs. The first game of that stretch comes tonight against the Kings.
Let’s take a look at this matchup, the fifth meeting between Colorado and Los Angeles this season, from a betting perspective in our Avalanche vs. Kings betting preview with odds, picks and predictions.
Those five games consist of four with the Kings. Sandwiched in between is a war with the Vegas Golden Knights, who are the team the Avalanche are chasing.
But, before that monster of a game, Colorado and Los Angeles are playing two on consecutive nights in Southern California.
The Kings have remained competitive because they technically remain alive for a playoff spot. They won back-to-back games in Arizona against a Coyotes team also still fighting for the playoffs, and overall have won four of six. However, the Kings need a miracle to get in. They need to win all five remaining games, have St. Louis lose four-of-five in regulation and Arizona to lose once in regulation.
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Avalanche vs. Kings Betting Pick (May 7, 2021)
Losing to the Sharks put the Avalanche in a bit of a pickle. They have very little wiggle room now with so few games to play if they want to win the West.
Andre Burakovsky remains hot for the Avalanche, as he has goals in three straight games, but the rest of the usually potent Avalanche offense was stymied.
Goalies have not been announced at the time of this writing, but with Philipp Grubauer almost a lock to be in net when they play Vegas on Monday, one would expect he’ll get the start tonight and sit out Saturday’s game so he’s well-rested for Monday’s showdown.
As we mentioned previously, the Kings aren’t just going through the motions. Anze Kopitar registered his 1,000th career point against Arizona and Gabriel Vilardi had his first career two-goal game, while Sean Walker notched his first three-point game of his career.
Avalanche vs. Kings Odds
Here are the lines for Avalanche vs. Kings at DraftKings Sportsbook:
Spread: Avalanche (-1.5 -113), Kings (+1.5 -105)
Moneyline: Avalanche (-286); Kings (+235)
Over/Under: Over 5.5 (-125)/Under 5.5 (+104)
Bets We Like With a Kings Win
Dustin Brown OVER 0.5 power play points (+410, FanDuel)
We always look for value, and this long shot bet give you better value than you might think. The Kings’ power play is pretty good on home ice this season, clicking at 22.7% at Staples Center. Colorado’s penalty kill is pretty good overall, killing at 82%, which ranks eighth in the NHL, but on the road they tend to struggle, killing at just 76.5%, which ranks 24th.
Brown is the leading goal scorer on the power play for the Kings. Colorado is also a mediocre 12-9-2 when allowing a power play goal, while they are 22-4-2 when not allowing a power play goal. If you think Brown is too much of a longshot, you can take Kopitar on the same bet (+260, FanDuel). Kopitar leads the Kings with 23 power play points.
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CLAIM OFFERBets We Like With an Avalanche Win
Avalanche to score first AND win the match (-136, DraftKings)
Colorado has scored first in each of the four meetings with the Kings this season and has won three of the four games. Their high-powered offense is used to getting on the board early as well as the Avalanche are 27-5-2 when scoring first. That means they’ve scored first in two-thirds of their games and win 79% of those, regardless of opponent. This bet allows you to get better odds on the Avalanche to win with a trigger that has a darn good chance to happen.
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Avalanche vs. Kings Prediction
This is a tricky one. Yes, Colorado wants it to keep pace for the division crown, but the Kings don’t want to be eliminated officially yet, so they’ll give the Avs a game. With that in mind, if you like exotic bets, how about bumping the over/under to 6.5 and bumping the point spread to 2.5 and then parlaying the Kings and the UNDER (+123 DraftKings)? None of the four games between these teams have gone over seven goals and we don’t see this as a blowout, so the Kings should cover the 2.5 as well. We’ll call it 4-2 Avalanche, and sneak in another winning bet for you.
Pick: We’ll call Avalanche 4, Kings 2
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