NHL Betting Picks - Colorado Avalanche at Detroit Red Wings
by Dave D
Game Time:
Saturday, October 17 Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
Raise your hand if you thought the Colorado Avalanche would start the season 6-1. There shouldn’t be a hand raised in the entire world. Not a soul saw this start coming. The Avs had strong goaltending, production from their youngsters and resurgence in play from veterans Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski. This week the Avs marched into Canada and beat Toronto and Montreal without much of a fight. Somehow the Avalanche sit atop the Western Conference. Whatever new coach Joe Sacco is selling the team, they’re clearly buying it.
The Red Wings are a difficult team to peg down so far this season. They blew two leads in Sweden and lost both games against St. Louis. Their return to North America saw them win two in a row before getting hammered by Buffalo on Tuesday. On Thursday they welcome the upstart Kings to town and promptly shove them back out with a 5-2 win. Coming back after that humiliating loss to Buffalo was a huge moral victory for the Wings, who still have some problems to work out.
What The Avalanche Have To Do To Win:
Craig Anderson may be the biggest steal of free agency. Anderson quietly had a career year in Florida last year and the Avs liked him enough to give him a two-year contract and the starting job in net. All Anderson has done in return is look like Patrick Roy, sporting a sub-2.00 GAA and .940 save percentage. If this is the real Craig Anderson, the Avalanche may have finally found the heir to sir-Patrick.
Give the team credit for allowing their young guns to blossom in the NHL instead of sticking them in the minors. They trusted both Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly to contribute, and both rookies have responded positively. Although it may be too early to give either of them the Calder Trophy just yet, the Avs definitely have themselves stars in the making. For now, keeping these two in the offense is working towards the Avs success, so why change anything?
What The Red Wings Have To Do To Win:
Goaltending has never been much of a strong point for Detroit, but even they can’t be happy about the way Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard have been playing recently. Neither seem to really want the starting job, although Osgood might have taken it with the victory over the Kings. Colorado is a very fast and smart team, and Osgood needs to be at his best when playing them. Otherwise the Wings may be forced to look elsewhere for reinforcements.
The Red Wings are fighting injury problems, so the rookies of this team need to step out. Johan Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk are hurt. It’s time for the next batch of Detroit superstars, like Justin Abdelkader, Ville Leino and Jonathon Ericsson to prove their worth to the franchise.
Outlook & Pick
It’s usually a blast when these two teams get together to play puck. The Wings are undefeated so far this season at Joe Louis Arena, but I guarantee you neither they nor the Avalanche think that’ll be a relevant stat come Saturday night. The Avalanche’s hot run won’t last forever, but there is nothing to indicate it at least can’t continue through Saturday night. The Red Wings will be better, but right now even they can’t stop the Avalanche’s momentum.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche
