NHL Betting Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets at Colorado Avalanche

Added on Mar 22, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

A couple of teams on the outside looking in at postseason action will face off in Denver on Tuesday as the Colorado Avalanche host the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Avs have been playing worse than any team in the league over the past few months–they’ve got the second worst record in the NHL and are one of only two teams (Edmonton is the other) to officially be eliminated from playoff contention. The Jackets have been struggling lately, but are still in the hunt for a postseason berth.

Columbus Blue Jackets at Colorado Avalanche
March 22, 2011 6:05 PM Pacific

The Avalanche are coming off a win over Edmonton, but that’s no reason to think they’re a ‘buy’. That win–against the worst team in the league–came in overtime and broke a 10 game losing streak. Overall, the Avalanche have lost 24 of their last 30 games and haven’t beaten a team with a winning record since January 18.

The Blue Jackets are still in the playoff hunt and have been a decent road team this season (17-13-6). Columbus’ biggest problem in recent games has been scoring goals and that shouldn’t be an issue against an atrocious Colorado defense. Avs are running on fumes right now–they’ve won only2 of their last 15 (2-11-2) and rank dead last in the NHL in scoring defense allowing 3.51 goals per game. The Avs have lost 22 of their last 25 and 30 of their last 38. Avs haven’t played since Saturday and they’re 5-10 on the season with 2 or more days rest. Colorado has been something of a ‘punching bag’ for teams this season and perhaps the most amazing thing about their horrid performance this season is how non-competitive they’ve been in their losses–only 8 of the Avs 40 losses this year have been by fewer than 2 goals.

Despite the miserable run Colorado has been on since the first of the year the casual fan may look at the records of both teams in recent games and think that these are two teams in similar circumstances. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Blue Jackets have been competitive in their losses against the best teams in the league. The Colorado win over Edmonton does give us some value here but we’ll continue to go against this train wreck of an Avalanche team every opportunity we get.

Bet Columbus Blue Jackets -125 over Colorado Avalanche
Bet Columbus/Colorado Over 5′ -115