The New York Rangers and Colorado Avalanche will meet for the second time in a week after the Avs skated away with a convincing 7-3 win at Madison Square Garden last Wednesday. Colorado is dealing with some key injuries but that hasn't slowed down the league’s No. 1 offense.
Will the bad blood from the last game boil over into tonight's meeting? Can the Avs pick up their eighth straight win on home ice? Find out in our free NHL picks and predictions for Rangers vs. Avalanche.
Rangers vs Avalanche odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
Colorado opened at -200 on the moneyline with a total of 6 leaning to the Over. Last Wednesday’s meeting closed with Colorado -175 on the ML and a total of 6.5. New York’s Adam Huska was making his NHL debut in net and the Avalanche were healthier.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until puck drop and be sure to check out the full NHL odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Rangers vs Avalanche predictions
- Prediction: Avalanche 3-way ML (-125)
- Prediction: Over 6 (-125)
- Best bet: Avalanche team total Over 3.5 (-116)
Predictions made on 12/14/2021 at 11:00 a.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Rangers vs Avalanche game info
• Location: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
• Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2021
• Puck drop: 9:00 p.m. ET
• TV: Hulu
Rangers vs Avalanche betting preview
Injuries
Rangers: Igor Shesterkin G (Out).
Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog F (Out), Nazem Kadri F (Questionable), Bowen Byram D (Out), Jacob MacDonald F (Out).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Rangers vs Avalanche head-to-head record (since 2016)
Rangers: 4-5 SU, 27 goals for.
Avalanche: 5-4 SU, 32 goals for.
Betting trend to know
The Over is 7-1 in the Avalanche’s last eight games as a home favorite. Find more NHL betting trends for Rangers vs. Avalanche.
Rangers vs Avalanche picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Moneyline/Puck line analysis
The Avalanche are coming off a big 3-2 win over the Panthers on Sunday, which marked the first time in five games that Colorado held its opponent to under three goals. They’ve picked up 11 of a possible 12 points over their last six games, which includes an absolute beatdown of the Rangers last Wednesday.
Colorado is healthier in net with Darcy Kuemper back to 100%. He returned from injury last week against the Rangers and has stopped 92 of 100 shots and is winning games with an offense scoring a league-best 4.32 goals per game. Even with Gabriel Landeskog sidelined and Nazem Kadri doubtful, the addition of Andre Burakovsky to the top line hasn’t slowed things down as the winger is coming off a three-goal game.
Looking back on the last meeting, Colorado had a big advantage in net as Adam Huska was making his NHL debut for the Rags (thanks coach). Colorado still won the goal battle and now faces a New York team that lost 1-0 to Nashville on Sunday and got blasted in the media by its head coach who said, “We played soft. It was a man’s game and we didn’t play it.”
Just because Gerard Gallant calls you out doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to rebound, especially against a Colorado team that averages 4.75 goals per game at home and has just one loss (overtime) on home ice across its last nine games.
The Avs beat the Predators 6-2 at home and closed at -215 on the ML whereas the Rangers closed -145 on the ML at home in their 1-0 loss to the Preds. Colorado has the offense to make up for the losses of key players and showed it can win one-goal games with its 3-2 win over a Top-5 Florida team on Sunday.
New York has played poorly for three straight games and we aren’t high on it snapping out of that funk versus a well-oiled Colorado team. Alex Georgiev has been stellar in net for the Rangers but he's faced some of the worst offenses in the league in Nashville, Chicago (twice), and Buffalo in four straight starts and is due for a dud as a league-average backup goalie.
The Avs in regulation at -125 is where we'd lay our money if we needed to take a side, but we’re more interested in the Colorado team total Over 3.5 at -116.
Prediction: Avalanche 3-way ML (-125)
Over/Under analysis
The Avs have scored more goals than any other team, leading each individual period in scoring as well. This offense rolls for 60 minutes and is complemented by a power-play sitting eighth in the league in success. Sunday’s 3-2 win was the Avs’ first Under in five games as Colorado is 17-6-2 O/U on the year, which is the best Over record in hockey. The Avs are one of only four teams that scores and allows more than three goals per game.
The last meeting saw two power-play goals but 10 total PP opportunities were had. The Colorado penalty kill has been its biggest weakness of late as the Avalanche have given up a PP goal in six straight and own the league’s No. 26 penalty kill. New York has scored a power-play goal in eight of its last 10 and has the No. 4 PP over the last 30 days.
We could see plenty of penalties again Tuesday as Jacob Trouba is not a welcomed player after catching Nathan MacKinnon with his head down last Wednesday. Forty-four total minutes of penalties were called in that meeting.
This game also features goaltenders who have played poorly over the season. Georgiev is a backup who will be replaced as soon as Igor Shesterkin is healthy enough. Both Kuemper and Georgiev own a goals saved above expected/60 below 0.00.
Colorado sits in the Top 5 in even-strength goals per game and in the Bottom half in 5-on-5 goals allowed.
In the last meeting, the total opened at 6 (-120) to the Over but closed at 6.5 due to Huska getting the start. The game finished with 6.10 xGoals and finished 7-3. Tonight’s total is also moving north after moving to Over 6 -120 from its opening mark at -115 to the Over.
With a couple of power-play tallies, we like this one reaching six or more goals.
Prediction: Over 6 (-125)
Best bet
With the New York offense coming in cold and Kuemper coming off his first quality start in some time, we feel more confident in the Colorado team total Over 3.5 than both the 3-way ML and the Over 6.
Burakovsky has seamlessly adapted to the top line while the power play is rolling out two solid units. J.T. Compher is playing on the PP1 (+350 to score a power-play point) while Burakovsky is running the show on PP2. The Rangers sit seventh in penalties taken per game and we could see the refs calling early penalties to keep the game in check after the last meeting saw plenty of extracurriculars.
New York should continue to have success on the power play as well, which will keep the Avs in scoring mode. We like the team total Over 3.5 at the same price as the Colorado PL.
Pick: Avalanche team total Over 3.5 (-116)
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