The Chicago Blackhawks are road favorites on Tuesday night as they visit the Colorado Avalanche on NBCSN. The Blackhawks are battling for first place in the Central Division while the Avalanche are buried in last place with the worst record in the NHL. These teams have met twice this season with both games in Chicago as the Blackhawks won 4-0 in early November while Colorado shocked the Blackhawks as nearly 3-1 underdogs, winning 2-1 late last month.
Don't miss the ice action from the Pepsi Center at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 17, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Blackhawks are in a massive letdown spot on Tuesday as they are coming off a huge game on Sunday as they faced the Minnesota Wild in a battle for first place in the division. The Blackhawks are 10-10 on the road this season with 9 games going under, just 4 going over with 7 pushes.
Colorado is wrapping up a four-game homestand on Tuesday night. The Avalanche won the first game 2-1 in overtime on January 6th and then had their bye week before playing the Ducks on the 12th in a 4-1 loss. Colorado is coming off a 3-2 loss to Nashville on Saturday so they will have had two days off to get ready for this game.
Letdown Spot
This is one of the biggest letdown spots for a team that you are ever going to see. The Blackhawks are coming off an emotional game for first place against Minnesota at Chicago Stadium and now they travel to visit the pathetic Avalanche who are wallowing in last place. Chicago has a lot more talent than Colorado and perhaps talent will simply win out but to win this game the Blackhawks will have to overcome a huge letdown spot.
Special Teams
Chicago isn’t anything special on the power play as they are just 14th in the league at 18.8%. Chicago is scoring only 2.7 goals per game which is 16th in the NHL. The Blackhawks penalty killing was sickening early in the season as they were last in the league and while it still isn’t good, Chicago has improved as they are now 28th in the league at 76.3%. Chicago is allowing 2.5 goals per game which is 7th in the NHL.
Colorado has been awful at virtually everything this season. They are next to last in the league on the power play at just 13%. The Avalanche are scoring just 2 goals per game which is last in the league. They are also last in the league in goals allowed at 3.3 per contest. The penalty killing for Colorado is 23rd in the league at 78.5%.
It was not that long ago that Colorado was a really good team as they had 112 points in the 2013-2014 season. The problem for the Avalanche is in the front office as they have made a number of poor decisions and before this season started their head coach Patrick Roy had seen enough and decided to resign. It is obvious that Roy knew what he was doing as Colorado has been terrible this season.
Free NHL Picks
This series has been competitive through the years and even in recent years it has been tight with the teams splitting their last ten meetings. The teams have also split their last ten in Colorado although Chicago has taken four of the last five with two of those games going over, two going under with one push.
Chicago is without question the better team but how can they possibly be ready for this game on Tuesday coming off the game against Minnesota? I will take a small shot with the underdog Avalanche and also play the game under the total.
NHL Odds: Avalanche 3, Blackhawks 2
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