The St Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche will face off for Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Final tonight from Ball Arena. Below, you can look at the loan Western Conference matchup on tonight’s NHL slate and at some of our best bets on the FanDuel Sportsbook.St Louis Blues (+176) vs Colorado Avalanche (-215) Total: 7 (O+110/U-134)
Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche made quick work of the Nashville Predators in Round 1 with a sweep, while the St Louis Blues were impressive in their six-game series win over the Minnesota Wild.
There seems to be an expectation that the Avalanche will dispatch the Blues with ease as they did in last year’s playoffs, but that’s going to be a tough ask with St. Louis much-improved thanks to their offseason moves and the growth of their young stars. The Avs won two-of-three games over the Blues during the regular season, with all three meetings seeing seven or more goals scored. This leaves the impression that we could be in for a high-scoring series, with both sides boasting plenty of star-power and offensive depth.
Cale Makar was exceptional in Round 1 where he finished the four games against the Predators with ten points, and he certainly has the capability to take over a game, so the Blues will need to try to limit his ability to use his skating by clogging the neutral zone and playing a more protective style of hockey.
There’s really no reason we shouldn’t be following the trends that we saw in the regular season between these two clubs, where 23 total goals were scored in three matchups. Goals should once again be piled up in this series and it’s not difficult to see the fireworks starting as early as Game 1 tonight, where the over makes too much sense with the value you’re getting in positive territory.
The Avalanche are sizable favorites in this series and rightfully so, but where the Blues might have an advantage right now is that the Avs haven’t played since May 9th, which is an eight-day layoff between games. This team is so immensely talented that it might not ultimately matter, but the Blues have won before with a lot of this group intact and should be well-prepared for this Game 1. There’s simply too much juice to pass up with the number tonight on the moneyline for St. Louis.
Best Bets: Over 7 (+110), Blues moneyline (+176)
