Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 1/21/2023

Time: 10 p.m. ET

Venue: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA

Where to watch: ROOT-NW, ALT

DraftKings: Kraken -115, Avalanche -105

FanDuel: Kraken -115, Avalanche -105

BetMGM: Kraken -115, Avalanche -105

Caesars: Kraken -115, Avalanche -105

Avalanche: 24-17-3

Kraken: 27-14-4

The Colorado Avalanche are going to go for their fifth consecutive victory and immediately return to establishing dominance in the NHL as the defending Stanley Cup champions heads to Seattle to take on the surging Seattle Kraken on Saturday at climate pledge arena.

 

Colorado has suddenly found a groove, although the opponents that they have beaten over the last number of games have not really been up to par with the overall competitive level that you would expect from the defending champions. But Colorado is coming off a 4-1 victory on the road against the struggling Vancouver Canucks on Friday. So, of course, Colorado is playing the second night of a back-to-back as one normally would.

 

Valeri Nichushkin scored a power play goal in the second period, and Mikko Rantanen added another power play goal 10 minutes later to help pace the Colorado offense. Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and Colorado suddenly looks like the Colorado of old and is creeping up back toward a playoff spot.

 

Now of course Colorado needs to play better against greater competition. Injuries have been a big problem for Colorado to deal with and surprisingly enough, it doesn't surprise anyone that Colorado has struggled with the goaltending department as well as the traditional bodies available.

 

"We're just playing our style," Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano said. "We're getting up the ice a lot quicker, guys are much more predictable, and it seems like we're defending less and playing more in their end. We got guys like [Valeri Nichushkin] and Mikko and 'Nate,' and when they get zone time, they turn the tide of the game and they're tough to handle and it just seems like our pace of our game is a lot higher."

 

But nobody is playing better hockey right now than the first place Seattle franchise that has played hockey for a grand total of a year and a half. Seattle had an 8 game-winning streak ended in losses to Tampa Bay in Edmonton, but the cracken remounted greatly for a 4-3 overtime victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. Former Colorado forward Andre burakovsky scored the game-winning goal and the Stanley Cup champion will likely be celebrated by his teammates to some extent.

 

But yes, the craken are in first place in the Pacific division after overtaking the Vegas golden Knights in the standings because of how bad Vegas is played over the last number of games. I'm not sure if Seattle has enough firepower to keep this sustainable for the rest of the year but they are playing like a team that absolutely deserves to be in the position that it is in.

 

"Those points are so important," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "To be able to have the poise, presence, to go out and make a play is important. There's a bunch of guys looking back at me sitting on the bench that wanted to go out there tonight (in overtime). I can tell you that and you know, truth be known, there's a bunch of guys that probably could have went out and made a play for us. So that's important, but [Burakovsky] went out and made the play, and that seals up the point for us."

 

 

It's always at this time of year that I like taking the underdog and I like taking the underdog that is exciting the rest of the league. Seattle takes out the chance. Kraken 4, Avalanche 3

Kraken are 8-1 in the last 9 off a day of rest. 

Kraken are 5-1 in their last 6 when their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game.

Under is 12-3-1 in Avalanche last 16 vs. Western Conference.

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Evan Rodrigues

Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano -- Alex Newhook -- Logan O'Connor

Anton Blidh -- Ben Meyers

Devon Toews -- Erik Johnson

Samuel Girard -- Andreas Englund

Kurtis MacDermid -- Brad Hunt

Jacob MacDonald

Alexandar Georgiev

Andre Burakovsky -- Matty Beniers -- Jordan Eberle

Ryan Donato -- Alex Wennberg -- Jared McCann

Eeli Tolvanen -- Yanni Gourde -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Brandon Tanev -- Morgan Geekie -- Daniel Sprong

Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak -- Justin Schultz

Carson Soucy -- Will Borgen

Martin Jones