After a busy Tuesday we will get a slow Wednesday night with only three games in the NHL. In the latest game, the Philadelphia Flyers will travel to Denver for a meeting with the Colorado Avalanche. Both teams have been doing an excellent job in the last few weeks, but only one of them will step off the ice with two important points.
Impressive win streak of the Avs came to an end
The Colorado Avalanche want to go through a dream season just like the St. Louis blues did last year. With Philip Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, coach Jared Bednar has a good goaltending duo and many other teams are jealous of the Avs' top line, consisting of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. The last two missed many games during the first two months of the season due to injuries and therefore players like Joonas Donskoi and Cale Makar had to step up as well as MacKinnon.
Colorado opened the season great with eight wins from the first ten games, but then got into a small dip due to the mentioned injuries. In the last month the Avs on the other hand perform very well again. A win streak of six games came to an end last Monday, when Colorado lost 5-4 via overtime in Denver to the Calgary Flames. MacKinnon and Donskoi were both important again with a goal and an assist.
Konecny is out with a concussion
The Philadelphia Flyers have been on noticeable streak for the past seven seasons. One year they don't qualify for the Stanley Cup play offs and the next year they bow out of the first round of the play offs. After a disappointing last season, the Flyers have started the new season surprisingly well. In the strong Metro Division, Philadelphia is currently sitting in third place, only three points behind the New York Islanders, who are second and ten points behind the division leading Washington Capitals.
Especially the home record of the Flyers is impressive. Of the sixteen games played at Wells Fargo Center, they only lost two games in regulation. Away from home they performance slightly less with fifteen points from fourteen games. Travis Konecny is Philadelphia's leading scorer with 28 points and also leads the team in goals (eleven) and assists (seventeen). After a dirty hit, he will have to miss the next games, including the game against Colorado tonight due to a concussion.
Avs will win at home
The Flyers won six of their last seven games, but will probably have a tough evening in Denver now that they have to miss their point leader Konecny for the time being. Colorado is an elite team with a good home record. Their most talented defenceman Makar is doubtful, but they have enough attacking power and Grubauer is seen as a reliable goalie. In the goal of the Flyers, Hart has picked up his level after a lesser start of the season. Because of Konecny's absence he will have to excel, if the Flyers want to book a result against Colorado. The Avs are in my opinion the rightful favorite, because of their scoring ability their games are rarely decided in overtime this season.
Makar is a game time decision, if he plays I'll double my stake because then I'll have even more confidence in a home win.
