Blues vs. Avalanche Game 2 Odds, Prediction, Pick (May 19, 2021)

The final score in the series opener between the Avalanche and Blues may seem a little lopsided. Add in the fact that Colorado outshot St. Louis 50-23 for the game and it seems even more tilted in favor of Colorado.

Let’s take a look at this Game 2 matchup between St. Louis and Colorado from a betting perspective in our Blues vs. Avalanche betting preview with odds, picks and predictions.

But here’s what you need to know — St. Louis was just as good as the Avs into the third period. The game was tied 1-1 until Nathan MacKinnon warded off two defenders to snap a shot high over Jordan Binnington’s glove. Gabriel Landeskog added a deft tip in of a MacKinnon point shot and MacKinnon then added an empty-netter to provide the spread, but make no mistake about it – it was a closer than you might think.

Nevertheless, you have to play almost a perfect game to beat the Avalanche at Ball Arena, and the Blues were nowhere near perfect. They’ll need to ramp things up offensively and get more shots through to Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 if they’re going to make hay in this series.

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Blues vs. Avalanche Betting Pick (May 19, 2021)

Nathan MacKinnon was on fire for a long stretch of the season before a nagging injury caught up to him, causing him to miss some time toward the end of the regular season campaign.

But his offense re-emerged in a big way with two goals, an assist, and six shots on goal in Game 1.

The Avalanche are an offensive wagon for sure, but when MacKinnon is at his best, he can take over a game, which is really impressive considering the talent around him on the roster.

Meanwhile, the Blues need to find some offense. Their lone goal came from Jordan Kyrou joining a rush, but his line with Robert Thomas and Ivan Barbashev aren’t the guys the Blues are looking to for offense.

It was a tough loss for St. Louis to be without leading scorer David Perron in Game 1 as he was listed in the Covid-19 Protocol and the team offered nothing further about his potential availability — or even his whereabouts.

But their next three best scorers – Ryan O’Reilly, he of the series win guarantee, Brayden Schenn and Mike Hoffman as well as veteran scorers and playoff stalwarts Vladimir Tarsenko and Jayden Schwartz were a combined minus-11 with only 10 shots on goal.

Blues vs. Avalanche Game 2 Odds

Here are the lines for Blues vs. Avalanche at DraftKings Sportsbook:

Team	Spread	Moneyline	Total
Avalanche	-1.5 (+120)	-220	O 5.5 (-117)
Blues	-1.5 (-150)	+185	U 5.5 (-105)

Bets We Like With an Avalanche Win

Avalanche to win AND UNDER 5.5 goals (+155, DraftKings)

No need to tease any lines here. Just bet on the Avalanche to win, which they should because they rarely lose at home, and save your investment on them by parlaying the bet with the UNDER. St. Louis struggled to get shots, let alone score on Grubauer in Game 1, and will look to tighten things defensively in Game 2 if they want to earn the split, so a low-scoring game is on the docket.

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Bets We Like With a Blues Win

Blues + 1.5 goals AND UNDER 6.5 total goals (+190, DraftKings)

OK, this is a little bit of a hedge because we don’t really believe the Blues will win this game. But we do believe they’ll keep it close, and if they keep it close, they need to find a way to slow down the Avalanche offense. Take them to cover the spread and bump the over/under up an entire puck and you get +190 with a lower scoring game that the Blues win — or perhaps lose by a goal. If you want to guard against that empty-netter killing you on the spread, you can make the spread +2 at DraftKings and still get paid out at +140. If you make the spread 2.5, which is super conservative, the payout at DraftKings is still +116.

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Bets We Like Independent of Outcome

Nathan MacKinnon OVER 3.5 shots on goal (-225, DraftKings)

Pick an Avalanche player. Any Avalanche player. Your chance of hitting the OVER on almost any of them is worth it when they play on home ice.

Think about it, they were credited with 50 shots in Game 1. Fifty! In 60 minutes! So,  MacKinnon over 3.5? Yep. Gabrel Landeskog over 2.5 (-139, DraftKings)? Yep. Mikko Rantanen over 2.5 (-200, DraftKings)? Yep. Cale Makar over 1.5 (-250, DraftKings)? Yep. Any of these. All of these. Your chances of winning are better in this building than any other in the NHL.

Blues vs. Avalanche Game 2 Prediction

Lost in the outcome of the first game was that Blues goalie Jordan Binnington made 46 saves. He may not need to be that good for the Blues to win tonight, but if he his, they could pull the upset. However, Philipp Grubauer has been rock solid all season long in net for the Avalanche, which should cancel out Binnington’s effectiveness. Then it comes down to talent.

It’s better in Colorado, which is why we see them winning a tight one.

Pick: Avalanche 3, Blues 2

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