In their first head-to-head meeting of the regular season, the Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils collide at the Prudential Center for an East-versus-West tilt. Altitude Sports & Entertainment will showcase the matchup, which gets underway at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 18.
Colorado Avalanche at New Jersey Devils Odds
New Jersey (-140) is currently favored over Colorado (+120) and the Over/Under (O/U) has been set at 6 goals (-110 for the over, -110 for the under).
The Devils are 4-0 straight up (SU) and have earned moneyline bettors 4.0 units this season. That win percentage, the NHL’s strongest so far in this young season, is a solid improvement compared to what the team did during last year’s regular season (44-38). The team is 4-0 SU at home this year.
New Jersey has successfully scored on 20.0 percent of its power play opportunities thus far. That mark hasn’t moved a lot from last year, when the team was ranked 14th in the league by scoring on 21.0 percent of its extra-man opportunities. Its penalty kill has gotten stronger year-over-year as it has gone from successfully defending 81.2 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked 10th overall last season) to 92.9 percent this year.
As a team, New Jersey has been penalized 4.3 times per game this season, a number that is up some from the 3.8 penalties per game given up last year. After serving an average of 9.1 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team’s been forced to kill penalties for 9.3 minutes per outing this season.
With a .961 save percentage and 24.8 saves per game, the undefeated Keith Kinkaid (4-0) has been the best option in goal for the Devils this season.
The Devils will continue looking for offensive production from Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall. Palmieri has scored seven times while Hall has four assists to his name so far in the season’s early going.
On the other bench, Colorado is 3-3 straight up (SU) and has lost 0.6 units for bettors taking the moneyline this year. A total of three of its matches has gone over the total, while another three have gone under the total and none have pushed. Colorado’s 1-2 SU as the road team this season.
Colorado’s scored on 28.6 percent of its power play chances this year after successfully converting on 21.3 percent of its extra-man opportunities in 2017-18 (which ranked them 10th in the league in that category). The team’s gone from killing off 83.3 percent of opponent power plays (ranked third overall last season) to 93.1 percent this year.
Colorado’s players have been called for penalties 5.7 times per game this season. Last year, that number was at 4.0, which was the eighth-highest mark in the league. After serving an average of 9.2 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team has had to stave off opponent power plays for 12.2 minutes per matchup this year.
Semyon Varlamov (32.8 saves per game) has been the primary option in the net for Colorado. Varlamov owns a 3-2-2 record, while registering a .948 save percentage and 1.77 goals against average this year.
Mikko Rantanen (one goal, eight assists) has been one of the primary playmaking threats for the visiting Avalanche.
Colorado Avalanche at New Jersey Devils Free Picks
Free Pick: SU Winner – Devils, O/U – Under
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Notes
Betting Notes
The under has hit in three of New Jersey’s last five games.
The Avalanche are 1-3 SU when they serve more penalty minutes than their opponent while the Devils are 1-0 SU in games where they spend more time in the box than the opposition.
After winning two of its three shootouts last year, Colorado is off to a 0-1 start in shootouts this season. New Jersey went 5-4 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
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