Hockey has not been treating me well lately, and that is really annoying. I know the solution is to not bet it, but I gave up on it last year after significant struggles. This year, I've been successful, so I feel like keeping at it is the right way to go. Everyone struggles from time to time with betting specific sports - I had an absolutely brutal NBA stretch and have followed that up with a ridiculous hot streak getting back a ton of units over the past two weeks. Things happen. It may seem dark before the dawn, but that dawn is coming and it will come in this game between the Avalanche and Blackhawks.
Colorado has put together a really nice campaign to this point and looks like they might be one of the best teams in the league. They currently sit with a 25-15-1 record and have done very well away from home with a 13-7-0 record. I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise as they have been one of the better teams in the league for multiple years now. Their team is led by Nathan MacKinnon who has already racked up 66 points for the year with the overwhelming majority coming on assists (52). The Avalanche are scoring 3.39 goals per game and taking just under 30 shots per game. The offense looks sharp, moves the puck well, and finds the open man. The concern I have is they are giving up 3.17 goals per game to opponents and it is coming on fewer than 27 shot attempts per game. I am not sure who will be in the net for this one but the goalies all have decent numbers which leads me to believe they need to figure out their defense more than blame it on their goalies.
The Blackhawks can't express the same success or sentiments that the Avalanche can over the past few years or even this year. The expectation was that after drafting Connor Bedard last year, they would jolt into at least respectable, but the team has done very little to bolster the roster and provide true talent to surround him. It doesn't help that his sophomore season leaves a lot to be desired. He has just 10 goals and 25 assists for the year, but he does lead the team in points. Again, this is more of a concern that he can lead the team with these numbers than it is specifically about him. The Blackhawks are scoring just 2.5 goals per game for the season. Perhaps most alarming is that they are allowing opponents to take five more shots per game than they are taking. There is very little reason to be encouraged by their play lately as well, considering they've dropped four of the past five games.
If you want a bright spot here, the Blackhawks did take down the Avalanche in their first matchup, a game that took place on October 28th. I'm not really sure we can take away much from that one other than the Avalanche might want revenge here. I'm going to back the under 2.5 goals for the Blackhawks. I think the Avalance hold them down and tighten up after losing their last game and allowing five goals in the previous one to that. Back the Blackhawks team total under.
