Kraken vs. Avalanche Game 2 pick: NHL odds, predictions, best bets

The Seattle Kraken were an unfancied underdog before their Round 1 series with the Colorado Avalanche began on Tuesday night.

Seattle was +235 to win the best-of-7 with the defending champs before the puck dropped and went off at +185 for Tuesday night’s curtain-raiser in Denver. 

The Kraken would defy those odds in emphatic style, beating Colorado, 3-1, to earn the first playoff win in their franchise’s history. 

Will the Avalanche — who didn’t trail in a series once last postseason — find a way to bounce back on Thursday night?

Kraken vs. Avalanche pick

(9:30 p.m. ET)

There were a couple of encouraging developments for the Seattle Kraken in Tuesday’s win.

The Kraken are a score-by-committee team and they got goals from Alex Wennberg, Morgan Geekie and Eeli Tolvanen.

Unlike the Avs, who have a wealth of offensive firepower at the top of their lineup, Seattle will struggle if the pressure to score falls on a few players. 

But the most notable development in Game 1 was the play of Philipp Grubauer in goal.

Grubauer’s tenure in Seattle has been much maligned after the team signed the German to a big ticket before last season, but if he continues to play at the level he showed in Game 1, all of that will be forgiven.

Seattle finished the regular season with the third-worst save percentage (.886), so one of the most common narratives in this matchup was that the Avs high-powered offense would be able to score at will against their former teammate.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

Grubauer finished the night with 34 saves on 35 shots and posted a +2.7 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx).

It was a massive performance for a goalie that posted an .895 save percentage and a -0.7 GSAx in 39 appearances during the regular season.

Whether or not this was just a blip or if Grubauer has found his confidence remains to be seen, but even if he does play well, it’s likely that the Avs will find the back of the net more often than one time in a game where they create 3.7 expected goals. 

Even though it never got close to cashing, folks who bet the over 6 can feel a little jilted.

The biggest question for those bettors was whether or not Seattle could do its part to get the total past six goals and the Kraken held up their end of the bargain.

It was just stymied by a surprisingly terrific performance from Grubauer.

With a bounce-back effort expected from Colorado, especially offensively, and Seattle’s offense looking like it will have some success, a bet on the over 6 looks like a fine wager for Thursday night.