The St Louis Blues lived to fight another day by pulling off a sensational win at the Ball Arena, so with the series now going into a sixth fixture, we take a look at the betting and have some free NHL picks on Friday’s match between the Colorado Avalanche and St Louis Blues.
Let’s get one thing straight, the odds are still heavily stacked in the favor of the Colorado Avalanche.
With the best Vegas NHL betting sites, they are -800 to win the best of seven series with St Louis. While the Blues are +550 to win two on the spin against the 2022 Stanley Cup betting favorites and pull off a major upset.
Going into Match 6, the St Louis Blues will have a home advantage. This fixture is to be played at Enterprise Center, and like Wednesday night’s encounter at the Ball Arena, it’s another drink in the last chance saloon for Craig Berube’s team.
If the Blues can do the unthinkable, and square the series at three games apiece, the seventh and deciding match will switch back to Denver, and the Ball Arena.
Wednesday night’s match did have a bit of a surreal feel about it. The Avalanche were just in cruise control at the end of the 2nd Period with a 3-1 lead. Then in the 3rd Period, all hell broke loose.
Robert Thomas pulled it back to 3-2 just before the halfway stage of the 3rd, and then with less than 5 minutes left, Justin Faulk stunned everybody by leveling the match.
But then, as is so often the case, Nathan MacKinnon scored after 17 minutes and 14 seconds to put the Avalanche back in front, to presumably win the game and put the Stanley Cup favorites into the Western Conference Final.
Or so he thought, as that isn’t how things ended up!
With less than a minute left, up popped Robert Thomas to score his second of the night and level the match at 4-4.
How was this possible? This wasn’t in the script.
I’m sure at that point Jared Bednar would have reminded his players they’d already won the match once, so go and win it again.
But again, the Blues stunned the Avalanche. This time Tyler Bozak scores and the Blues pull off the most unlikely of victories and take the series to a sixth match.
So is this just a blip for the Avalanche, or was Wednesday night the start of a remarkable comeback for the Blues?
Well, a quick look at the best Vegas NHL odds for the remainder of the playoffs would suggest it’s just a blip for the Avalanche.
As things stand, they are a +140 betting favorite to win the 2022 Stanley Cup. They have been the favorites all season, and are still to be dislodged from this perch.
| 2022 Stanley Cup Winner Odds |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | +135 | +140 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | +250 | +225 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | +600 | +600 |
| Edmonton Oilers | +700 | +650 |
| New York Rangers | +1000 | +1200 |
| Calgary Flames | +2000 | +2200 |
| St. Louis Blues | +3000 | +2500 |
Over in the betting to win the Eastern Conference, things are much different. The Avalanche is -185 favorite.
These odds don’t give off the vibe that there is some impending disaster on the cards.
A look at the betting for Friday’s match though will show that the Vegas Sportsbooks certainly aren’t writing off the Blues’ chances of causing an upset.
A team winning at odds of +150 wouldn’t go down as an upset on any level. And the way the gap in the odds has closed during this series shows just how well St Louis has performed.
Moneyline
Handicap Spread
Total Points
So far in this series, the St Louis Blues have been on the end of two heavy defeats to Bednar’s chargers.
In Match 3 with the series all square at 1-1, the Avalanche swept the Blues away with a 5-2 win at the Enterprise Center. And then in the follow-up match, St Louis was beaten by six goals to three.
All this means that the Blues have to finally beat the Avalanche on home ice to extend the series.
At NHL betting odds of +150 on the Moneyline, the sportsbooks are certainly giving St Louis a chance. But I’m not seeing it that way.
I think that the Avalanche has had a kick up the backside now, and with two defeats to St Louis at the Ball Arena already, they won’t want this series to go to a deciding match.
Therefore, I’m going with the Colorado Avalanche to beat the St Louis Blues on the Moneyline.
Elsewhere, and on the Handicap Spread, there is real value to be had on the Avalanche. So far in this series, the two games at the Enterprise Center have ended with Colorada winning by three goals.
I see no reason why they won’t win by the two needed, and I’m going to take Colorado to also win on the Handicap spread.
Finally, in the two home games for St Louis, there have been seven and nine goals scored.
In the series as a whole, seven goals or more goals have been scored in three of the fixtures. And in the other two matches, there have been five goals. I’m going with over 6.5 goals for my final pick.
