Welcome back to NHL Predictions, Playoff edition. Each day, Last Word on Hockey will break down each NHL game and give our predictions. There is only one game on the slate for Thursday, June 10, the Vegas Golden Knights vs Colorado Avalanche.
NHL Predictions
Vegas Golden Knights vs Colorado Avalanche
Series: 3-2 Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights can advance to the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 tonight. The Avalanche appeared to have control of Game 5 with a 2-0 lead going into the third period. However, the Golden Knights tied it up less than five minutes into the third thanks to goals from Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault. And then less than a minute into overtime, Mark Stone scored on a breakaway.
Colorado had a 2-0 series lead before Vegas won three consecutive games. In Game 1, the Avalanche were dominant on both ends of the ice, winning 7-1 over the Golden Knights. Game 2 was much closer after Vegas swapped goaltender Robin Lehner for Marc-Andre Fleury. The Golden Knights put up much more of a fight all around but lost 3-2 in overtime.
Game 3 was another close one, but this time Vegas got its first win of the series. In Game 4, the Golden Knights dominated the Avalanche and won 5-1.
Colorado, who had no issues sweeping the St. Louis Blues in the first round, is facing a much bigger beast in Vegas. Since coming in in Game 2, Fleury hasn’t given up more than three goals in a game to the Avalanche. They averaged five goals a game against the Blues in the first round. Avalanche stars Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen are being stopped by Fleury.
They’re still getting scoring chances and they kept it close in Game 5 so expect Game 6 to be similar. While it seems like Vegas has this series in the bag, if Colorado can play a full 60 minutes, they have a good chance of tying up the series once again.
Prediction: Avalanche win 2-1 in overtime
Main Photo:
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