Colorado Avalanche vs Ottawa Senators 1/14/23 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Ottawa Senators and the Colorado Avalanche meet in NHL action from the Ball Arena on Saturday night.

The Ottawa Senators will be looking to build on a 5-3 win over Arizona in their last matchup. Brady Tkachuk leads the Senators in scoring with 41 points including a team-high 15 goals and 26 assists while Alex DeBrincat has 38 points with 14 goals and 24 assists this season. Claude Giroux also has 38 points with 15 goals of his own and 23 assists while Drake Batherson has 37 points with 13 goals and 24 assists and Tim Stutzle has 39 points with a team-high 18 goals and 21 assists this season. Anton Forsberg’s gone 8-8-2 with a 3.04 GAA and a .906 save percentage while Cam Talbot is 10-11-1 with a 2.90 GAA and a .906 save percentage this season.

The Colorado Avalanche will look to rebound from a 3-2 loss to Chicago last time out. Mikko Rantanen leads the Avs in scoring with 51 points including a team-high 27 goals and 24 assists while Nathan MacKinnon has 41 points with a team-high 30 assists and Cale Makar has 39 points with 28 assists as well this season. Alexandar Georgiev is 16-11-3 with a 2.75 GAA and a .915 save percentage while Pavel Francouz is 4-6 with a 2.83 GAA and a .911 save percentage between the pipes for Colorado this season1

Ottawa is 1-4 in their last 5 games against the Western Conference and 5-1 in their last 6 games when their opponent scores 2 goals or less in the previous game while the under is 21-7 in their last 28 games overall. Colorado is 1-5 in their last 6 games against the Atlantic division and 1-4 in their last 5 games when their opponent scores 5 goals or more in the previous game while the under is 6-1-1 in their last 8 Saturday games.

I get the case to be made either way in this game, but I’m backing the under here. I just don’t trust either offense right now and to me this just feels like a first to 3 wins kind of game if we even make it to that point. Give me the under in this one.