T.M. Selection: Colorado Avalanche -1.5.

I like the Colorado Avalanche puckline in this game against the St Louis Blues on Thursday. The Avalanche looked really good in that 1st game of this series. They needed OT to win that game but they really dominated the Blues for a majority of that game and they peppered the net with 50+ shots too. The Blues may have tied it up late to send it to OT but the Avalanche spent a majority of that game in the Blues' zone and they deserved to win that game in the end. I think this game is going to be much easier for the Avs now that they have had a feel for the Blues in this series and I expect them to come out even stronger on offense in this game to bury the Blues here. The Blues are still missing 2 of their top defensemen here and I think that is going to play a factor here with the Avalanche being so good on home ice lately. The Blues looked good in their previous series but now they are playing the leaders of the West and they swept the Predators in the 1st round for good reason. The Avalanche were hot going into the playoffs and they have continued that with a 5-0 record in this postseason already. The Blues also struggled against the Avs all year, losing a majority of their games against each other and I think this game is going to be similar. The Avalanche were scoring a ton of goals in the 1st round and I expect them to get back to that here with a dominant performance on their home ice here. I like the Avalanche puckline here to win this game by 2+ goals.

T.M. Prediction: 4-1 Avalanche.