Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 5/30/2021

The Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche meet in game one of their Second Round playoff series in NHL action from the Ball Arena on Sunday night.

The Vegas Golden Knights come into this series having taken down the Minnesota Wild in a tight 7-game series, taking the deciding game by a final count of 6-2. Mattias Janmark leads the Knights in scoring with 6 points split between 3 goals and 3 assists while Mark Stone, Alex Tuch and Chandler Stephenson each have 5 points with Stone leading the team with 4 goals while Tuch has 3 goals with a pair of assists and Stephenson has 5 assists this playoffs. Nicolas Roy, William Karlsson and Nick Holden all have 4 points as well this season. Marc-Andre Fleury started all 7 games in goal for the Knights, posting a 9.31 save percentage and a 1.71 GAA in the postseason.

The Colorado Avalanche come in fresh off of their 4-0 series sweep of the St. Louis Blues and have had plenty of time to prepare for this one. Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avs in scoring so far in the postseason and is 3^rd in the NHL in scoring with 9 points including a team-high 6 goals and 3 assists while Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen each have a team-high 6 assists with Landeskog leading the pair with 8 points while Rantanen has 7. Ryan Graves has a goal and 3 assists and Brandon Saad has 3 goals as well this season. Philipp Grubauer got the win in all four games started for Colorado, posting a .936 save percentage and a 1.75 GAA this postseason.

Vegas is 44-19 in their last 63 games overall and 45-21 in their last 66 games following a win while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 playoff games as an underdog. Colorado is 40-14 in their last 54 games overall and 36-15 in their last 51 home games while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games as a favorite. The underdog is 9-4 in the last 13 meetings between these two teams.

I get why the Avalanche would be favored at home as they’ve only lost 4 times in regulation at home in the regular season. However, the Golden Knights are no pushover despite having to battle in a seven game series, and while the Avs have a clear rest advantage, these guys know what they’ve signed up for and are prepared for these quick turnaround spots. I also think there’s a lot of value with Vegas given how much success the underdog’s had in this matchup, so give me the Golden Knights and the plus money here.