Bruins Will Win Battle Against Avalanche

Avalanche vs. Bruins, 7:00 ET

I've made it no secret and will continue to make it no secret, that I have been a bad hockey handicapper this season. In every sport you go through slumps or stretches of struggle, but with the NHL, I don't feel like I've gone on any sort of positive stretch. However, as the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky, said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." So, tonight, I'm not missing a chance to take a shot on a game between the Avalanche and the Bruins.

Colorado has been great all season and now takes on another one of the best teams in all of hockey. Could this be a Stanley Cup preview? Hard to say considering most of the NHL playoffs revolve around whoever ends up with a hot goaltender. Either way, the Avalanche have to at least be considered a possibility early in this season. They average 3.73 goals per game and are taking three more shots per game than their opponent. The problem with the Avalanche is their defense. Unfortunately, they are allowing 3.11 goals per game. While their offensive output still puts more goals on the board than the defense stops on average, you have to be a bit concerned if they go into a slump. They've been pretty successful on the Power Play to this point in the season, but Boston has been very adept at killing their opponent's Power Play opportunities. If you look at recent form, the Avalanche have been the better team, winning four of the past five games. Their only loss was a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Canadiens.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 24: Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche looks on after his penalty after checking Jared McCann #19 of the Seattle Kraken during the first period in Game Four of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Climate Pledge Arena on April 24, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Speaking of teams and current form, the Bruins have won their past two games, but they lost three games previous to that. What is more interesting to me is that they had four overtime games and one went to a shootout. In fairness to them, all of those games were road contests. While Boston's offense isn't quite as prolific as Colorado's, they still are putting up 3.30 goals per game and keeping their offense rolling. Their defense is where the success has really come for the Bruins. This year, they have allowed just 2.63 goals per game and continue to shut opponents down despite allowing more shots per game than the Bruins take themselves. The return home, which started with a win over the Devils on Monday, has to be a welcome sight for the Bruins as they are 13-3-3 on the year. In the first game these two played this year, the Avalanche took down the Bruins 4-3 in a shootout. The Avalanche outshot the Bruins 36-26 in that game, and both of the teams were able to score a Power Play goal.

Tonight may be a rematch of that first game between the two goalies. For the Avalanche, we probably are getting Alexandar Georgiev in the net. He's not exactly the best goalie in the world, but he does lead the league in wins. His goals against per game average is a little rough at 2.92 which is 32nd in the league. In that game against the Bruins he faced 26 shot attempts and saved 23 of them. The Bruins are likely to start Jeremy Swayman in the net tonight and he has been much better statistically with a 2.38 goals against per game average and a .922 save percentage, both in the top 10 of the league. I wouldn't be too surprised if the goalies allowed another three past them each in this game and we get to the over six, but I'm going to take the Bruins tonight to get a bit of revenge with the -142 moneyline.

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