Golden Knights Look to Even Miniseries vs Avs

The Vegas Golden Knights take on the Colorado Avalanche for the fourth game in a row as the two teams return to Colorado after the ice debacle in Saturday’s outdoor game at Lake Tahoe. The Avs won games 2 and 3 of the four-game series and are favored in this one as well.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The game opened with the Avalanche as favorites at -116 and the line has moved up to between -125 and -137 depending on the sportsbook. The total opened at 5.5 and has stayed at that number with the UNDER the favorite in the -125 to -140 range.

Vegas News & Notes

The Golden Knights sit in second spot in the West Division but find themselves on the verge of losing three straight games to their main rival for the division crown. Vegas has lost two of three to the Avs but played well in all three games.

The two teams tied in high-danger chances in two of the games and Vegas had more high-danger chances in the other. The shots and overall scoring chances between the teams were also very close for all three games.

For the season as a whole, the Knights have been the better team creating and preventing high-danger scoring chances as they rank third in the league in high-danger chances for percentage (HDCF%). Vegas has also generated far more overall scoring chances this season as their 343 total chances ranks 13th in the league while Colorado ranks 25th in that category.

In net, backup goalie Marc-Andre Fleury likely gets his seventh straight start for Vegas as starter Robin Lehner is still day to day with an upper-body injury.

Colorado News & Notes

The Colorado Avalanche have only one more high-danger chance for than against this season, good for 16th in the league in HDCF%. However, they do rank sixth in the league in SCF% and only two teams have allowed fewer overall scoring chances.

After dealing with injuries to several players over the last couple of weeks, the Avs are finally back to (pretty much) full health with defenseman Eric Johnson the only regular skater out of the lineup right now. However, goaltender Pavel Francouz was placed on long-term injured reserve a number of weeks ago and has yet to play a game this season.

Philipp Grubauer has handled the load for Colorado, starting 12 of the team’s 14 games this year. He is 9-3-0 in those starts with a fantastic .936 save percentage. He will likely start in this matchup with Hunter Miska (winless in two starts) serving as the backup.