T.M. Selection: Colorado Avalanche.

I like the Colorado Avalanche to win this game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Avalanche have a 1-0 series lead here after winning the 1st game of this series in OT 4-3 but they looked like the better team in that game for a majority of it. They came out quick in that game taking an early 3-1 lead before the Lightning tied it 3-3 on 2 bad goals but the Avalanche still kept all the pressure in Tampa's zone and I expect to see the same thing in this game. The Avalanche are hot and have won 6 games in a row now. Including the 1st game of this series, the Avalanche are now 3-0 against the Lightning this year and I expect the Avalanche to make that 4-0 after this game. They looked a lot faster than the Lightning in that game and were outskating them for a majority of the game. Vasilevskiy is the shining star on the Lightning and he didn't look good at all in that game. He gave up 4 goals and didn't face many shots either and a lot of the goals he gave up were really fluky goals too. Vasilevskiy needs to play better or the Lightning will have no chance in this game to win it. The Avalanche are too fast for the Lightning to keep up with and I see the Avs tiring the Lightning out again like they did in the 1st game. I like the Avalanche to win this game.

T.M. Prediction: 4-1 Avalanche.