The Avs picked up their second OT win of the series with Nazem Kadri scoring the winner for Colorado in his return to the line-up. So now we have had two OT games and then a blowout win from each team. Well, the series shifts back to Colorado tonight and the Avs check in as -175 favourites on home ice tonight as they look to finish off Tampa and get their names inscribed on the Stanley Cup.
Nathan MacKinnon lit the lamp and sent eight pucks on net for Colorado last time out. It was nice to see him finally score, and he remains the best option on the board tonight for either team. I expect Colorado to be more popular tonight from an ownership standpoint, so if you are looking to go with a game theory approach going overweight on Tampa may be an interesting strategy. By this point of the playoffs, we have all seen the stats for Andrei Vasilevskiy in elimination games for Tampa. They are absurd. Of course, some regression is due here at some point in his career – but I can see a case for either side of the argument in terms of how to approach exposure to him in builds for Game 5.
At this point in the series, I don’t think I really have any new coverage here in terms of breaking down the games. The side that has been the better team has a 3-1 lead through four games. We’ve got a pretty good indication of what each team has and how they match up. I expect Tampa to play their defensive clog up the zone style of team defence here, and I expect tonight’s game to be a close, low scoring affair.
Enjoy Game 5 tonight!
