Free Picks: Colorado Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues

Talk about an avalanche of goals. The Colorado Avalanche are coming off a scoring outburst in a 9-3 rout of the Arizona Coyotes. And in the previous game against the Blues back on Jan. 15th, the Avalanche blitzed the Blues 8-0. Colorado is a scoring machine, but can they continue this pace? Something tells me the coaches will preach defense this time, but will it work?

For my Betpicks free picks, how can you not like the Avalanche on the Money Line, to cover on the puck line and go Over on total goals? They lead the West Division with a 23-8-4 record. The Avs have a 15-4-2 home record and a league-leading +47 goals differential.

Colorado is 10-2 in their last 12. The Blues are holding down the fourth playoff position with a 16-13-6 record, and center Ivan Barbashev and defenseman Colton Parayko are close to returning to the lineup.

When I go about making my NHL picks, I like to look at recent trends. The Blues have dropped four in a row and have scored only four goals in those losses. And their goal differential is an unimpressive -13.

When I’m making my NHL predictions, I also look to see how a team performs home and away. And the Blues have a pretty solid road record (12-5-2), which should inspire some confidence.

The Avalanche (No. 1 on offense and No. 1 on defense) are favored for these NHL game odds in the aftermath of that 9-3 rout of Arizona in which Joonas Donskoi scored three goals.

Gabriel Landeskog has five goals in his last five games, while the ​Blues’ hottest player is Ryan O’Reilly (three goals in his last five games).

Philipp Grubauer has been rock solid in goal for the Avalanche (.928 save percentage and five shutouts). Blues’ Jordan Biddington owns a .903 save percentage, but he has not been good the last four games.

You can throw out the fact that the Blues beat Colorado 4-1 in January. That was the first game of the season.

Both teams are due for a reversal. Every bone in me suggests the Blues pull the upset. But it’s a risky bet to take St. Louis on the Money Line.

The safer bet is to go with Colorado (-232) with 10Bet. Colorado might be so overconfident that they struggle in this game.

But the way they’re playing, the Over looks like a safe bet (5.5) (-138). I’m all in on Colorado. I’m taking the Avs to cover (-1.5) (-138).

• Louis is 2-9 Straight Up in their last 11 games.
• The total has gone Under in 5 of Blues’ last 7 games.
• The total has gone Over in 8 of Colorado’s last 9 games.
• Colorado has gone 9-1 SU in their last 10 games at home.