Colorado’s Cale Makar had been on fire with 12 points through his first six games of the playoffs but has since gone three games without a point.
Wednesday has a solo elimination game with the Stars looking to win their fourth straight over the Avalanche and advance to the Conference Finals on home ice.
We hit a bump in the road last night with a 1-3 record but still shouldn’t diminish how hot we’ve been lately at 15-9 over our last 24 picks.
All betting lines are from BetMGM and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Avalanche Over 2.5 goals (-160), Nathan MacKinnon anytime goal (-105), Cale Makar Over 1.5 points (+180)
The Stars look to close things out at home after shocking hockey fans as they won both games on the road in Colorado, where the Avalanche looked virtually unbeatable as the best home team in the league during the regular season and entering the Stars series with a goals per home game average of 5.50 through the first round.
Dallas' Jake Oettinger has been an x-factor for the Stars as he limited the red hot Avalanche offense to one goal in each of their home games, which they had only done once this regular season.
The Avalanche will also have to respond after losing lead-goal scorer Valeri Nichushkin to the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, where he won't return to the Avalanche lineup for the remainder of the playoffs.
This will be a tougher challenge than expected as Nichuskin has averaged almost a point per game over the past two seasons which has made a significant impact as the Avalanche are just 27-26-4 without him in the lineup during that span.
They will need Cale Makar to pick up the pace as he has no points since Game one when before that he dished for nine assists and 12 points. Hart trophy candidate Nathan MacKinnon has also gone cold with just an assist since Game one.
The two should respond in a big way but may not be enough for the Avalanche to edge out a win so we go with the safer bet of an Over in total goals for the team.