Seattle Kraken vs Colorado Avalanche Series Preview
Kraken Starts First Postseason Series as Franchise Against Defending Champions
Seattle Kraken vs Colorado Avalanche Series Preview: The Seattle Kraken (46-28-8, 100 points) and Colorado Avalanche (51-24-7, 109 points) series price opens with the Avalanche as a -300 favorite. The Avs will try to win back-to-back NHL Stanley Cups, done last by the Tampa Bay Lighting in 2020 and 2021. Of course, the Kraken who are in their second year of existence has never won a cup but made a 40-point leap from year one to year two. They pushed themselves from an eighth-place finish (60 points) in 2022 to a wild-card spot with 100 points in the NHL Team standings this season. Let’s continue our Kraken vs Avalanche series preview by diving into both teams.
Kraken Must Lean On Depth
This is the time of year when experts like to roll out the word depth when analyzing a series. The reason is teams that can roll out their third or fourth line and still have a reasonable chance to put goals on the board become more dangerous as a series moves on.
Sure Jared Bednar can rely on his top six because they’re better than most in the game, but Seattle Head Coach Dave Hakstol has the luxury of a third line that produced 124 points and a fourth that wasn’t far behind with 108.
By comparison, Colorado got 73 points from its third, and Bednar’s fourth is a complete mess. From a betting perspective, Seattle was a friend to bettors this season with 549 units won for every $100 wager. That was the fifth-best overall mark in the NHL behind Boston (+1923), Buffalo (+851), Vegas (+813), and New Jersey (+669).
The Seattle Kraken will start this series on the road but the betting public knows that’s where Seattle is the strongest after posting a 26-15 road record while stuffing 1,391 units of profit into the pockets of the public. Only the Sabres (+1653) was a better road wager. That should play a part in who you wager on from game to game. All the Kraken has to do is steal a road game and this series could be much different than what most expect.
Oilers Have Rare Goaltending Advantage
Continuing Our Seattle Kraken vs Colorado Avalanche Series Preview: Stuart Skinner (29-14-5, 2.75 GA, .913 Save Percentage) will get the crease in game one for Edmonton. The Edmonton native has not lost a regulation game in almost five weeks going 10-0-1 since a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, allowing six goals on 37 shots.
Throw away an overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Oilers have won 14 of 15 with Skinner in net. The 24-year-old goalie has allowed two or fewer goals in five straight starts. We mentioned goaltending first because you already know they own a high-octane offense that almost dares their opponents to put them on the power play where they cashed in on 32.4% of their chances.
There are some that will ask if Jay Woodcroft’s team has enough depth but when you have a top six that averages 87 points, you realize that the Oilers are loaded and will prevail once against if Skinner continues to produce winners.
Bettors weren’t quite as profitable backing Edmonton as they were Los Angeles, but still managed to end in the black with 287 units won. When the Oilers were a favorite of -200 or more this season, they cashed out in 17 of 24 games, still not good enough to produce a profit (17-7, -130).
Avalanche Wins Central, But Not The Same
Concluding Our Seattle Kraken vs Colorado Avalanche Series Preview: Maybe the joke will be on all of us in the end. At the midway point of the season, the Avs were just 21-17-3 (45 points). They dealt with injuries and a five-game losing streak that compelled many in the betting industry to write Colorado off.
Like a horse down three lengths at the three-quarters pole, Colorado finished 30-7-4 (64 points) and ran down the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central on the last day of the NHL season.
When you have top-six talents like top-line center Nathan Mackinnon (42-59-101 points) and Mikko Rantanen (55-50-105 points) there is no doubt that Colorado’s top unit dominates what the Kraken can match with but this is the postseason which means the Avs will be relying on third liners Lars Eller (10-13-23 points) and Matthew Nieto (12-12-24 points) to contribute to the scoring.
The last week of the season was a good one for Colorado bettors after managing to crawl into the black for the season with 214 units won after falling into the red by more than 500 units. In the second half of the year Colorado went 30-11, generating 760 units of profit for $100 bettors.
Only the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks (+854) were better for the public in the second part of the season. That does it for our Kraken and Avalanche preview. In the end, we feel the Avalanche will win in six tough games (+375) which is kind betting option than laying -300 to win the series.
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