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Colorado Avalanche vs. Florida Panthers Pick
The Avalanche have lost two of their previous three games after winning six straight games. They’re sitting nicely with a record of 16-7-4 in the Western Conference. The Avs are currently a couple points behind the Predators for 1st in the conference. Semyon Varlamov has been playing great hockey for the Avs in net, but had a rare off night against the Pens in Pittsburgh.
He allowed 6 goals on 32 shots to bring his GAA up to 2.43 and save percentage to 0.923 save percentage. Nothing too alarming for Varlamov, who I expect to bounce back with a strong outing against the Panthers this evening. He was stellar against the Red Wings in a shutout effort the game before. They are 9th in the NHL with 2.79 goals allowed per game.
The Avalanche offence has performed better on the road, with 3.82 goals per game. Florida are scoring an average of 3.54 goals per game at home in Sunrise. For a team dependent on Luongo, it’s surprising to find that they’re 26th in the league with 3.42 goals allowed per game. In their last ten outings, they’ve allowed 3.8 per game.
Luongo owns a 2.71 GAA and 0.914 save percentage, so a little off the pace of Varlamov between the pipes. The Panthers have been awful following up wins this season. Note that they’ve gone 0-4 in their last four games after a win. I like the Avalanche to respond positively after they failed to show up against the Penguins in their last effort on the ice. The price looks like good value on the Avalanche in this spot.