The Colorado Avalanche will be visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets and this should be an interesting one. Let's take a closer look at the teams and players.
For the Avalanche, they have a dynamic duo tending nets. Mackenzie Blackwood has been keeping the puck out with a solid save percentage of 92.4 this season. Not far behind, Scott Wedgewood's been doing his part too. His standout 93.7 save percentage from last month spells trouble for the opposition.
Now for the Blue Jackets, their goalie game feels a bit lukewarm. Elvis Merzlikins has a season save percentage of 89.5, while young Daniil Tarasov is showing potential with a last-month save percentage of 89.2, yet they don't quite measure up to their Colorado counterparts.
For the Avs top players, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have been tearing up the ice. MacKinnon's racked up 30 goals and a whopping 80 assists this season, while Makar's not too far behind with 28 goals and 56 assists. And who could ignore Artturi Lehkonen, with a very respectable 27 goals and a plus-minus of 34 this season.
On the Blue Jackets side, Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski have had solid months, but their seasonal stats fail to match the Avalanche's heavy hitters. Yet, look out for Dante Fabbro whose 5 plus-minus rating from last month might just hint at a defensive edge.
Looking at past matchups, the Blue Jackets seem to have home ice advantage, winning the most recent game on their territory. However, the Avalanche still hold the overall upper hand this season at 45 wins, in comparison to Columbus' 34.
When looking at recent games, the Avalanche have had a couple of losses but managed two convincing victories before that. The Blue Jackets have had a mixed bag of results, but notably pulled off a landslide victory against Nashville.
With all this in play, I'm predicting the Colorado Avalanche to edge out the Blue Jackets. Despite the home advantage and a few solid performers in Columbus, the overall team performance and ice-dominating stats from Colorado's players give them a bit of an edge.
Albert’s Prediction: Colorado Avalanche by 2
