Unlikely OT Hero in Game 1
Goaltender Jordan Binnington did everything short of scoring a goal in the series opener against the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche.
Binnington, who started the playoffs as the backup goalie for the St. Louis Blues, faced 54 shots and another 27 were blocked by his teammates as the high-powered Avalanche seemingly had the puck for the entire 60 minutes. All of this was done with Colorado being on the power play just once.
Colorado got a goal from Josh Manson in overtime to improve to 5-0 in the postseason and won its second overtime game of the playoffs.
The Avalanche (+175) remain the favorites to win the Stanley Cup championship while the Blues (+2000) have the longest odds to be lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup according to the NHL playoff odds.
Let’s check the latest NHL lines, stats, injury reports, and NHL odds for Blues vs Avalanche. We’ve plenty of NHL picks and predictions.
Blues Relying on Overworked Defense
The St. Louis Blues are still waiting to get Torey Krug, their best puck-moving defenseman, back in the lineup. St. Louis was also without defenseman Marco Scandella for the series opener.
The Blues decided to dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards, but having more blue-liners dressed didn’t mean fewer minutes for the team’s stars. Colton Parayko played 28:56, Justin Faulk saw 25:54 of ice time and Nick Leddy wasn’t that far off that with 24:19 in the overtime loss.
The other four defensemen played less than 16 minutes in the game. Considering that Colorado only needed four games to advance to the second round while St. Louis had a challenging six-game first-round series against Minnesota, how will the heavy workload impact Parayko, Faulk and Peddy moving forward? The trio only had one giveaway between them but, considering that much of the game was spent with St. Louis in the defensive zone, that is quite the workload being thrust upon the three veterans.
Scandella practiced with the team before the series opener and Krug also made the trip to Colorado, there is no indication when either of them will be ready to return to the ice.
The NHL betting lines total has gone over in 13 of the Blues’ last 17 games. That might not be a good thing as the best chance for St. Louis to beat Colorado would be in a low-scoring affair.
Manson Delivers in Clutch for Avalanche
When going down the list of Colorado Avalanche players most likely to score the winning goal in overtime, Josh Manson might only have one or two teammates ahead of him in the pecking order.
The 30-year-old defenseman had one goal in his last 11 regular-season games and none in the first four playoff games. In Manson’s first 22 playoff games (all with the Anaheim Ducks), he didn’t have a goal. However it was Manson who scored at 8:02 of overtime off assists from Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog as Colorado took a 1-0 lead on St. Louis in the second-round series.
Game winner in overtime!
@Avalanche Win! pic.twitter.com/UKVwnJOisZ— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) May 18, 2022
Manson was one of nine Colorado players who played at least 20 minutes in the game as the fourth line and third defensive pairing saw limited minutes. Colorado could afford to double-shift players and put star defenseman Cale Makar out there for nearly 30 minutes since the Avalanche hadn’t played in more than a week.
This has to be quite the experience for Manson, who hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2018. He had four shots on goal as Colorado had as many shots from its defense (25) as St. Louis had in the game.
The Vegas odds total has gone over in six of Colorado’s last seven games against St. Louis.
Blues vs Avalanche Head-to-Head
Colorado has won eight straight playoff games against St. Louis and has won the last seven postseason games at home against the Blues dating back to 2001.
This was the first time in the last five postseason meetings that a game between the Blues and Avalanche was decided by just one goal.
Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon each have 10 points in the last five playoff games against St. Louis.
Following the win, the best odds are on a five-game series, with the worst odds coming on a seven-game series. The Avalanche winning in five games would cash out at +200 while the moneyline for the Blues winning in five games (+1700), six games (+1600) and seven games (+1200) fell after the overtime defeat.
Blues vs Avalanche Game Information
- Game: Blues (49-22-11 in the regular season) vs Avalanche (56-19-7)
- Location: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
- Day/Time: Thursday, May 19th, 9:30 p.m. ET
- Blues vs Avalanche Live Stream: NHL.TV
Blues vs Avalanche Betting Lines
Blues vs Avalanche Prediction
With the exception of the brilliant play by St. Louis goalie Binnington, there was little that transpired in the first game that would lead one to believe that the Blues will make this an extended series.
The good news is that St. Louis kept the Colorado offense from erupting in the opener, which is more than can be said for what happened when the Avalanche faced Nashville in the first round. The Blues will need to win at least one game in Colorado and, with eight players who were members of the 2019 title-winning team, it would be risky to count St. Louis out after one overtime loss.
Expect the shot differential to be a little less lopsided in Game 2, but it is still hard to go against the Avalanche, especially with the Blues shorthanded on defense.
The best news for Colorado is that goalie Darcy Kuemper looked fine after having to miss time following an eye injury suffered in the sweep of Nashville.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche -240
Pick: Colorado Avalanche -1½ (+105)
