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This exhilarating series is all tied up at two games apiece, as Game 5 in Denver has officially arrived between the Seattle Kraken and the defending champion Colorado Avalanche. It is time to check out our NHL odds series where our Kraken-Avalanche prediction and pick will be revealed.
Trailing 2-1 in the series entering Monday night, the Seattle Kraken nabbed their first-ever home-playoff win in a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory. With everything now deadlocked, the momentum has shifted in Seattle’s favor, as the Kraken now possess a serious opportunity to turn this series upside down with a big-time victory in the Mile High City.
For the Avalanche, there is no doubt that Colorado has faced an uphill climb for most of the season up to this point. Playing without their team captain in Gabe Landeskog certainly has been a tough pill to swallow, but the NHL has decided to suspend defenseman Cale Makar one game as well for his hit on Seattle’s Jared McCann. In addition to Valeri Nichuskin’s mysterious departure from the series as well, the Stanley Cup Champions from a year ago will have to dig deep to overcome this feisty Kraken crew.
Here are the Kraken-Avalanche NHL odds, courtesy of FanDuel
Seattle Kraken: +1.5 (-156)
Colorado Avalanche: -1.5 (+130)
Over: 5.5 (-128)
Under: 5.5 (+104)
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Time: 9:30 ET/6:30 PT
*Watch NHL games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
At first glance of the action in Game 4, it turned out to be the Kraken that played like they were possessed en route to out-shooting the Avalanche and also coming up with opportunistic chances which eventually led to Seattle tying up this series. Not to mention, but the Kraken were also the more physical team, as they out-hit Colorado 52-37 and certainly set the tone from the opening face-off.
Obviously, another repeated effort in the form of their Game 4 heroics will go a long ways in whether or not Seattle can take a 3-2 lead in the series and cover the spread as well, but the most important aspect of Game 5 for the Kraken will need to be in the form of the former Avalanche goaltender in Philipp Grubauer. On Monday night, “Grub” put his body on the line for 20 saves on 22 shots and will be called again to put a halt to Colorado’s shorthanded offensive attack.
Outside of the fact that Grubauer will need to be on his A-game, the availability of Jared McCann will be something that will be worth tracking as Wednesday draws closer. After taking the brutal hit on the boards by Makar, it is expected that McCann may be out for a considerate amount of time, so other skaters will need to step up in his absence. As a whole, be on the lookout for guys like Yanni Gourde and Jordan Eberle to force the action as the dynamic duo are Seattle’s best chances of scoring at a high rate in Denver on Wednesday evening.
Are the Avalanche in trouble? While Colorado may not hitting the panic button quite yet, the shortage of some of their impact players for Game 5 is certainly a troublesome ordeal for the defending champs. Without three of their top players ready for play on Wednesday, the Avalanche margin of error just became that much more slim.
In almost every game of this series, Colorado has found themselves down early in the first period. Before you can even have a chance to sit back and kick your feet up, the Avs have been on the short end of things in the opening period of play. Despite the fact that Colorado has battled back each time, starting off hot may be the single handily most important aspect for the Avs to conquer in order to win and cover the spread in Game 5. Of course, this will need to include a ferocious intensity right off the bt that has often been lacking on this roster in the series overall. However, when your roster boasts two of the best players in the world between Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, then you aren’t necessarily ever out of games until the fat lady sings.
Most importantly, the second and third lines of the Avalanche have failed to contribute one bit. Alas, Colorado happens to have one of the top lines in all of hockey, but they desperately need more contribution from the skaters outside of this to keep the pressure on Seattle and ultimately come away with a victory. Unfortunately, if Colorado can’t step up in this facet of the game, then they could end up being out-manned by a hungry Seattle squad.
Whenever a series is tied 2-2 apiece, the winner of Game 5 oftentimes has a tremendous chance to go on and win the series. In this case, even though Colorado is missing some key ingredients in their overall attack, expect them to dig deep with their championship DNA by giving the home fans something to cheer about.
Final Kraken-Avalanche Prediction & Pick: Avalanche -1.5 (+130)
The post NHL Playoffs Odds: Kraken vs. Avalanche Game 5 prediction, pick, how to watch – 4/26/2023 appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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