10:10 pm
June 2

Golden Knights @ Avalanche

Who will WIN this matchup?

Vegas Golden Knights (40-14-2)

@ Colorado Avalanche (39-13-4)

 

Starting Goalies:

Marc-Andre Fleury (VGK): Likely

Philipp Grubauer (COL): Unconfirmed

 

Current odds:

Vegas Golden Knights: (+170)

Colorado Avalanche: (-200)

 

• The NHL announced the finalists for the Vezina Trophy, recognizing the top goaltender in the league for the season. Two of the three finalists will oppose each other Wednesday night when the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche meet in Game 2 of their second-round series in Denver. Colorado is looking to take a 2-0 lead in the series after winning the opener, 7-1.

• But the Knights did play physical, and at some points too physical in retaliation to a hit by Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves on Mattias Janmark in the first period. Janmark left the game following the borderline hit and his status for Game 2 has not been announced. Graves took a couple of hard hits after that but then was taken down by Vegas’ Ryan Reaves in front of Colorado’s net in the third period. The league handed Reaves a two-game suspension for his actions.

• Graves should be fine for Wednesday, but he might be the least of concern for Vegas. The Avalanche’s top line of Nathan MacKinnon (two goals, one assist), captain Gabriel Landeskog (two goals, one assist) and Mikko Rantanen (one goal, one assist) were dominant in Game 1 and combined for 14 of Colorado’s 37 shots on goal. The Knights acknowledged they need to play better against the trio.

• The Avalanche said they will be ready for a different and more rested Vegas team on Wednesday, and they’re not relaxing after an easy victory in Game 1. “It’s a race to four (wins),” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s one, and it’s great, and we loved the way our team played and now our mission is to follow that up with a very similar game to the one we played.”

5/10
Confidence
StreakSmarter Pick
Colorado Avalanche
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