The Thursday Night NHL slate of games will feature a huge one between the Avalanche and Hurricanes. Read for a preview and best bets to look out for tomorrow night.

NHL Betting Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Carolina Hurricanes 3/10/22

In a battle of two NHL heavyweights, the Colorado Avalanche will come into Raleigh to face the Hurricanes. Both teams are the points leaders in their respective conferences, and a lot of people think this may very well be a preview of this year’s Stanley Cup.

Game Preview

This will be the first of two meetings between the Avalanche and Hurricanes and both teams know the implications of this one. This is two juggernauts facing off and the resilience and strength of both teams will be tested on Thursday Night.

For the visiting Colorado Avalanche, the season has been a breeze since the beginning. Their offense is led by the veteran forward Gabe Landeskog in goals scored as he has the 8th most in the NHL with 30 right now. As a whole, this offense is stacked and has been absolutely insane this season.

The Avalanche have three players who are top ten in points in the league with Nazem Kadri (72), Mikko Rantanen (67) and defender Cale Makar (65). Forward Nathan McKinnon is also 18th in league with 60. You can’t stop Colorado’s offense, you can only hope to contain them.

On the defensive side, Cale Makar and Devon Toews have set the pace and allowed the Avalamnche to have exceptional puck control against virtually every opponent they’ve faced this season.

As if they weren’t formidable enough, goaltender Darcy Kuemper has been more than solid with a 2.57 goals against per game rate and .917 save percentage.

The Avalanche have the best record in hockey at 41-12-5 with a league leading 87 points and a massive 16 point lead over the next closest team in their division.

The Hurricanes are nothing to shrug off, though. Carolina has been absolutely dominant this season at 39-12-5 and an Eastern Conference leading 83 points.

The Hurricanes have had a lot more competition to contend with in the east, but they’ve been more than up to the task. Goaltender Frederick Anderson has been exceptional in net for Carolina with a .928 save percentage, 2.08 goals against per game rate and 29 wins this season, top three in the league in all three of those categories.

It’s a huge reason why the Hurricanes have the lowest number of goals against this season at 134.

That lockdown goaltending has really allowed the offense to shine as well. Sebastian Aho is the undisputed leader on that team as he leads the Hurricanes in points (58), goals (24) and assists (34). The Hurricanes ability to win hockey games has successfully run through Aho.

This dependence on one player has its downside as the Hurricanes have 39 less goals for than the Avalanche. However, what they lack on offense in comparison to Colorado, they make up a great deal for in defense and goaltending. Jaccob Slavin and Ethan Bear have been an excellent first line of defense for Carolina, and their combination with Anderson has resulted in an absolutely lockdown defense.

Predictions/Best Bets

The moneyline unsurprisingly stands even at -110 for both teams. This one may seem like a toss-up, but the fact is that goals win games, and Colorado simply has the better scoring unit. The Avalanche’s depth on offense will lead them to victory in this game.

The puck line is -260 in favor of this being a one goal affair. Not a bad bet, but it’s hard to ignore the value of a +210 bet in favor of a two or more goal victory for Colorado.

Total goals are set at six right now. Given the strength of these teams on both sides of the puck, this one could go either way. That said, take the under. This will be a low scoring affair with chances to bury the biscuit coming at a premium for both sides.

Final score prediction: Avalanche 2, Hurricanes 1 Final/OT