New Jersey Devils vs Colorado Avalanche Prediction: Best Bet for Wednesday
New Jersey beat Colorado 4-3 on October 20, and the rematch asks the Devils to do it again on the second night of a back-to-back, going from Dallas to Denver's altitude against a rested team that scores 4.08 goals per game. The Devils own the fresher memory of winning this matchup and the heavier legs for trying to repeat it.
The Matchup
Colorado scores 4.08 goals per game, and its best player is dealing. Nathan MacKinnon has 21 points with 14 assists, and Artturi Lehkonen has 10 goals, so the Avalanche get creation from the middle and finishing from the wing on the same shifts. Colorado is 6-5-1 overall but 4-1-1 at Ball Arena, and a home team that scores like this one asks a specific question of a tired visitor: how long can you hold the game at your pace before the legs go?
New Jersey's answer starts with Jack Hughes, who has 12 points and 9 assists, and Arseny Gritsyuk, who leads the Devils with 6 goals. The Devils are 7-4-0 and score 3.27 goals per game, a real offense, and they proved on October 20 that they can outscore Colorado, winning the first meeting of the season 4-3. The problem is everything around this rematch. New Jersey is 1-2-0 on the road, and this trip is the road at its rudest, a game in Dallas on Tuesday night and then Colorado on Wednesday.
Neither crease settles the argument by itself. Jake Allen is at 2.84 and .886 for New Jersey and Nico Daws at 2.78 and .872, so whoever takes the second night of the back-to-back starts below .890. Mackenzie Blackwood is at 2.91 and .893 for Colorado, better, but not by enough to win a game his skaters sleep through.
The injury lists are short on both sides, with Seamus Casey on injured reserve with a knee injury for New Jersey and Zachary L'Heureux on injured reserve with an upper-body injury for Colorado. This game is about legs and pace, not absences.
Key Factors
The schedule is the loudest factor in this game. Colorado rested on Tuesday while New Jersey played in Dallas, and the Devils then traveled to altitude for a second game in two nights. Colorado's game is built for exactly that spot.
A rested home team that scores 4.08 per game can keep raising the tempo until a tired defense starts reaching instead of skating, and reaching is how penalties arrive. New Jersey's penalty kill, at 74.1 percent, is the unit that suffers first when legs go, although Colorado's power play has been ordinary at 17.9 percent and may not fully collect on it.
The counterpoint is real, because New Jersey already won this game once. Hughes needs one broken play to change a period, and Colorado allows 3.25 goals per game with goaltending under .895, so the Devils do not need to dominate anything to steal this.
If Allen gets the start and settles early, New Jersey's top six can trade chances with any team in the league. What the Devils cannot afford is a game that opens up. An open game at altitude, on tired legs, against the deeper rested roster, tilts further toward Colorado with every exchange, and that is the shape the home team will push for from the first shift.
A rested Colorado team at home against a Devils team playing its second game in two nights, after a trip from Dallas to altitude, is a spot that widens late. New Jersey's win in the first meeting came on fresh legs. Take the Colorado Avalanche moneyline at -185.
Game information
| DATE | Wednesday (10/28) |
|---|---|
| START TIME | 8:00 PM CT |
| HOW TO WATCH | NHL |
| VENUE | Ball Arena |
| TOTAL | 6.5 |
| MONEYLINE | Colorado Avalanche ML |
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