NHL Central Division: Winnipeg Jets vs Colorado Avalanche
Jets On 7-Game Streak of Unders; Avalanche 4-2 Under Run
A glance at the NHL standings shows that the Winnipeg Jets (14-8-2, 30 points) can creep to within two points of the division-leading Colorado Avalanche (16-7-2, 34 points) with a regulation win. The Jets are +1.26 units this season, but not great in the role of an underdog, losing eight of 12 games this season. The Avs are barely in the black for bettors (+0.38 units), but are 9-2 at Ball Arena, +2.46 units). Current NHL hockey lines have made Colorado a -144 favorite with a total of 6 (over -115). The puck drops at 9:05 p.m. ET / 6:05 p.m. PT and can be seen on Altitude and TSN3. We start our Avalanche vs Jets matchup stats analysis with a look at Colorado from a betting perspective.
Avalanche vs Jets
Date, time:
Location: Ball Arena
Streaming: Live Sports Stream
Colorado Comes Up On Critical Part Of The Schedule
It’s not just about who the Avalanche will play over the next couple of weeks, it’s about how many times they’ll play. Over the next 25 days, the Avs will play 12 times, almost averaging a game every other day. None of those games will be against Western Conference teams although Colorado does have the luxury of playing the Buffalo Sabres, San Jose Sharks, and Chicago Blackhawks four times in that span of games.
The good news is Colorado is getting healthy at the right time with Cale Makar and Andrew Cogliano back at practice yesterday and could play in tonight’s game which is why books are struggling to put a number up. Having Makar in the line-up means that much to the Avs and bookmakers.
Jared Bednar’s team is 5-2 against teams playing over .550 hockey this season, 4-0 against those teams at home, and 12-7 (-0.97 units) when favored by -140 or more. We continue our Avalanche vs Jets matchup stats analysis by turning our attention to the Winnipeg Jets.
This May Be The Year The Jets Breakthrough
We have constantly heard how good the Winnipeg Jets are for years and for one reason or another they fall short. The confidence level in the room is at an all-time high in 2023 and now they have a chance to go into Denver and prove that they should be considered as one of the elite teams in the Western Conference.
If we’re being honest, I think they’re getting ahead of themselves because we’re not convinced that they’re among the top three best in the Central, but a road win against the Avs would raise eyebrows around the Western Conference. For us, we think Winnipeg still needs to be better than a penalty kill that is successful just 73.9% of the time and some depth down the middle couldn’t hurt.
This is the step up that always kept Winnipeg from truly being among the league’s elite. When playing teams that play .600 hockey or better, the Jets are just 3-5 in 2023 and an incredible 22-40 (-14.04 units) since 2021. We conclude our Avalanche vs Jets matchup stats preview with our official selection.
Pace Will Favor The Over
Even though 13 of the Avalanche’s 23 games have cashed over tickets this season, the team has played well in their own end allowing just 10 goals in their last five games. We know the Jest are on a seven-game under streak, so this should be easy, right? The answer is wrong.
If Makar comes back in the line-up everything changes for Colorado who is still averaging 3.6 goals per game, good for fifth in the league against one of the league’s worst penalty killers. With this game circled on the Jets calendar, hope that the Avs get up early to pull the Jets away from the defensive style they’d rather play. Take the over six. That does it for our Jets and Avalanche preview, we wish you all the best with your NHL picks and parlays.
