Canucks vs. Avalanche picks Feb. 20: Bet on Colorado to win a high-scoring game

The Vancouver Canucks stare down a major test on the road when they face the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

The pregame narrative: Vancouver has been excellent regardless of setting, but tonight it battles a Colorado team that enjoys the league's best home-ice advantage. I'm betting on the Avs to win and the over in a game that shouldn't be short on action.

NHL oddsas of 10:21 a.m. ET on 02/20/2024.

Canucks vs. Avalanche picks

Best Bet: Avalanche 60-minute moneyline (+105)

Colorado is a very tough out at Ball Arena. The Avalanche boast an NHL-best 21-5-0 record in their barn this season.

Nathan MacKinnon has been electric when the Avs are at home. He has a point in all 26 home games with a league-leading 55 points overall.

Giving MacKinnon all of the credit would be a simplistic approach, though, as there's a buttress of support around him including Mikko Rantanen (70 points) and Cale Makar (60).

Playing at altitude is another element bettors must consider in this contest, especially because of Colorado's rest advantage. Vancouver just played in a thrilling 10-7 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday while the Avs enjoyed an off day.

The Canucks will have Thatcher Demko between the pipes in this contest, but he did allow four goals to Colorado in the lone meeting between these two teams earlier in the season.

Back the strong home team with a rest advantage to win.

Key stat: Vancouver's .643 points percentage on zero days' rest is its worst mark of any amount of rest.

Quick pick

Over 6.5 goals (-120): The Avalanche have gotten to Demko once this year and there's reason to believe they can do it again.

Colorado leads the NHL in goals per game at home (4.31). Its offence should be able to score considering Demko owns a very pedestrian .907 road save percentage across 19 games.

It'd be foolish to not expect the Canucks to score in this game, also. They're averaging the most road goals per game (3.61) in the NHL and have scored three-plus goals in eight of their last 10 outings.

The Avs have the second-highest over percentage (62.5%) in the NHL while the Canucks have the third-highest (60.5%), according to Scores and Odds.