by Chuck Sommers
Thursday, Jan 26, 2023
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Where to watch: BSW, ALT, SN360
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: NL
FanDuel: Avalanche -410, Ducks +315
BetMGM: Avalanche -400, Ducks +310
Caesars: Avalanche -417, Ducks +320
Season record
Ducks: 14-29-5
Avalanche: 26-17-3
We’ve hit the halfway mark in the NHL season. Yes, you read that right. We’re really hit that halfway mark that quickly. If you blinked, you probably missed a lot of good things happen in the hockey world. And with football about to be out of the way, look for our champion handicappers to get back on the rink. Oskeim Sports is on a 13-5-0 run in the NHL over the last 30 days, as is Will Rogers. Sean Murphy has also cashed in with a 16-10-0 run in the last month. Make sure you’re following our champion handicappers at bigal.com to get on this winning action!
Ducks - Avalanche preview, prediction and analysis
Recent results
Ducks: won 5-2 at Coyotes on Tuesday
Avalanche: won 3-2 vs. Capitals on Tuesday
The Anaheim Ducks will be playing the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, January 26 in Denver, Colorado.
The Anaheim Ducks won against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, January 24 in Tempe, Arizona with a score of 5-2. The Anaheim Ducks currently rank 8th in the Pacific Division. Cam Fowler had two goals and an assist, and Troy Terry had a goal and two assists for the Anaheim Ducks. Frank Vatrano had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 37 saves for the Ducks.
"It feels like we've been spotting other teams goals in the first period, just through mental errors, and I thought we limited that," Terry said. "We had a lot of energy at the start. … We dictated the pace. It was big for us to get a good start and keep it rolling."
Vatrano gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 17:38 of the first period when Terry intercepted Dylan Guenther's backhand pass and made a cross-ice feed to Vatrano for a one-timer that went under Ingram's glove.
Terry made it 2-0 at 3:34 of the second period with his first goal since Dec. 15. With a slashing penalty on Coyotes defenseman Juuso Valimaki against Max Jones pending, Terry went nearly end-to-end, maneuvering around Guenther before taking a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.
"I had a lot of space to get some speed going," Terry said. "That's kind of exciting, because it's tough to get the puck with space in the National Hockey League. When there's a delayed penalty and you can take advantage of that, it's nice."
Terry had gone 16 games without a goal, but has 12 assists in his past 14 games.
"Troy's our best player, and it was great to see him score because it's been a while now despite getting excellent chances every night," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "But that's Troy. He has that ability to go through people, he's unbelievable at putting pucks underneath guys' sticks and controlling it that way. I think he could have easily added a couple more."
Fowler extended it to 3-0 at 4:19, scoring 45 seconds into the ensuing power play after waiting for traffic to form in front before taking a wrist shot from the top of the slot.
"When somebody takes a penalty like that on one of our guys, it's up to us as a power play to make them pay for that," Fowler said. "I think it kind of rallied our guys."
Fowler made it 4-0 at 3:02 of the third period with a one-timer from the slot while Jakob Silfverberg screened Ingram.
Adam Henrique scored an empty-net goal at 16:39 for the 5-2 final.
The Anaheim Ducks have won four of their last 10 games.
The Colorado Avalanche won against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, January 24 in Denver, Colorado with a score of 3-2. The Colorado Avalanche currently rank 3rd in the Central Division. Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche held on to win their sixth straight game. Nathan MacKinnon got his 700th NHL point, and Logan O'Connor had two assists for the Avalanche.
"We didn't play our best game tonight. I'm happy that we were able to get the two points to put us up the standings again," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "That's our focus, and tonight I think the main reason we got that was because 'Georgie' was excellent in goal. He was our best player, for sure. We scored a couple timely goals, but we just didn't look sharp. It wasn't lack of focus, but it looked like we lacked energy."
Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 8:57 of the first period when MacKinnon poked the puck to him between the face-off circles and Lehkonen shot over Kuemper's blocker.
Andrew Cogliano extended the lead to 2-0 when he deflected Kurtis MacDermid's shot from the blue line at 2:04 of the second period.
"It hit me in the thumb," Cogliano said. "I think at the end of the day, guys like myself, that's where goals will probably be scored most of the time. I beat my guy to the net and got a tip on it and got a body on it."
Conor Sheary scored for the Capitals, shortening Colorado’s lead 2-1.
Alex Newhook pushed the lead to 3-1 at 15:39 when he skated down the right side on the rush and beat Kuemper far side with a snap shot. It was his fourth goal in six games.
"Great play by the [defenseman] there to get it out into a good spot, and wingers had good position, able to bump it back to me," Newhook said. "I had a step on the guy, figured I'd try and take it to the net. It's been clicking recently. My linemates are doing a great job getting me the puck, and vice versa, so just got to keep it rolling."
Jared Bednar got his 266th victory to become the winningest coach in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, passing Michel Bergeron, in his 500th game. Bednar is 266-185-49 in seven seasons.
"I'm glad it's here and gone so we can stop talking about it, to be honest with you," Bednar said.
The Colorado Avalanche have won seven of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Avs are on a roll with six straight wins, and the schedule has been pretty favorable for the most part. Don't expect a letdown here against one of the lower teams in the league. Avalanche 5, Ducks 1
The Anaheim Ducks will be playing the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, January 26 in Denver, Colorado.
The Anaheim Ducks won against the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday, January 24 in Tempe, Arizona with a score of 5-2. The Anaheim Ducks currently rank 8th in the Pacific Division. Cam Fowler had two goals and an assist, and Troy Terry had a goal and two assists for the Anaheim Ducks. Frank Vatrano had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 37 saves for the Ducks.
"It feels like we've been spotting other teams goals in the first period, just through mental errors, and I thought we limited that," Terry said. "We had a lot of energy at the start. … We dictated the pace. It was big for us to get a good start and keep it rolling."
Vatrano gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 17:38 of the first period when Terry intercepted Dylan Guenther's backhand pass and made a cross-ice feed to Vatrano for a one-timer that went under Ingram's glove.
Terry made it 2-0 at 3:34 of the second period with his first goal since Dec. 15. With a slashing penalty on Coyotes defenseman Juuso Valimaki against Max Jones pending, Terry went nearly end-to-end, maneuvering around Guenther before taking a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.
"I had a lot of space to get some speed going," Terry said. "That's kind of exciting, because it's tough to get the puck with space in the National Hockey League. When there's a delayed penalty and you can take advantage of that, it's nice."
Terry had gone 16 games without a goal, but has 12 assists in his past 14 games.
"Troy's our best player, and it was great to see him score because it's been a while now despite getting excellent chances every night," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "But that's Troy. He has that ability to go through people, he's unbelievable at putting pucks underneath guys' sticks and controlling it that way. I think he could have easily added a couple more."
Fowler extended it to 3-0 at 4:19, scoring 45 seconds into the ensuing power play after waiting for traffic to form in front before taking a wrist shot from the top of the slot.
"When somebody takes a penalty like that on one of our guys, it's up to us as a power play to make them pay for that," Fowler said. "I think it kind of rallied our guys."
Fowler made it 4-0 at 3:02 of the third period with a one-timer from the slot while Jakob Silfverberg screened Ingram.
Adam Henrique scored an empty-net goal at 16:39 for the 5-2 final.
The Anaheim Ducks have won four of their last 10 games.
The Colorado Avalanche won against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, January 24 in Denver, Colorado with a score of 3-2. The Colorado Avalanche currently rank 3rd in the Central Division. Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche held on to win their sixth straight game. Nathan MacKinnon got his 700th NHL point, and Logan O'Connor had two assists for the Avalanche.
"We didn't play our best game tonight. I'm happy that we were able to get the two points to put us up the standings again," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "That's our focus, and tonight I think the main reason we got that was because 'Georgie' was excellent in goal. He was our best player, for sure. We scored a couple timely goals, but we just didn't look sharp. It wasn't lack of focus, but it looked like we lacked energy."
Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 8:57 of the first period when MacKinnon poked the puck to him between the face-off circles and Lehkonen shot over Kuemper's blocker.
Andrew Cogliano extended the lead to 2-0 when he deflected Kurtis MacDermid's shot from the blue line at 2:04 of the second period.
"It hit me in the thumb," Cogliano said. "I think at the end of the day, guys like myself, that's where goals will probably be scored most of the time. I beat my guy to the net and got a tip on it and got a body on it."
Conor Sheary scored for the Capitals, shortening Colorado’s lead 2-1.
Alex Newhook pushed the lead to 3-1 at 15:39 when he skated down the right side on the rush and beat Kuemper far side with a snap shot. It was his fourth goal in six games.
"Great play by the [defenseman] there to get it out into a good spot, and wingers had good position, able to bump it back to me," Newhook said. "I had a step on the guy, figured I'd try and take it to the net. It's been clicking recently. My linemates are doing a great job getting me the puck, and vice versa, so just got to keep it rolling."
Jared Bednar got his 266th victory to become the winningest coach in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, passing Michel Bergeron, in his 500th game. Bednar is 266-185-49 in seven seasons.
"I'm glad it's here and gone so we can stop talking about it, to be honest with you," Bednar said.
The Colorado Avalanche have won seven of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Avs are on a roll with six straight wins, and the schedule has been pretty favorable for the most part. Don't expect a letdown here against one of the lower teams in the league. Avalanche 5, Ducks 1
Betting trends
Ducks are 3-10 off 3 straight overs this season.
Ducks are 7-15 after allowing 2 goals or more in the 3rd period last game this season.
Ducks are 3-10 after scoring four goals or more last game this season.
Avalanche are 14-6 off two unders this season.
Projected lines
Ducks:
Adam Henrique -- Mason McTavish -- Troy Terry
Max Comtois -- Trevor Zegras -- Ryan Strome
Frank Vatrano -- Isac Lundestrom -- Jakob Silfverberg
Max Jones -- Jayson Megna -- Sam Carrick
Cam Fowler -- Dmitry Kulikov
Simon Benoit -- John Klingberg
Nathan Beaulieu -- Kevin Shattenkirk
John Gibson
Adam Henrique -- Mason McTavish -- Troy Terry
Max Comtois -- Trevor Zegras -- Ryan Strome
Frank Vatrano -- Isac Lundestrom -- Jakob Silfverberg
Max Jones -- Jayson Megna -- Sam Carrick
Cam Fowler -- Dmitry Kulikov
Simon Benoit -- John Klingberg
Nathan Beaulieu -- Kevin Shattenkirk
John Gibson
Avalanche:
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Evan Rodrigues
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen
Andrew Cogliano -- Alex Newhook -- Logan O'Connor
Jacob MacDonald -- Ben Meyers -- Anton Blidh
Devon Toews -- Erik Johnson
Samuel Girard -- Brad Hunt
Kurtis MacDermid -- Andreas Englund
Alexandar Georgiev
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Evan Rodrigues
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen
Andrew Cogliano -- Alex Newhook -- Logan O'Connor
Jacob MacDonald -- Ben Meyers -- Anton Blidh
Devon Toews -- Erik Johnson
Samuel Girard -- Brad Hunt
Kurtis MacDermid -- Andreas Englund
Alexandar Georgiev
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
