Avalanche (+150) Heavily Favored to Win Central Over Blues (+250) Despite Virtual Tie in the Standings

• Colorado trails St. Louis by three points in the division standings but has two games in hand on the defending Stanley Cup champions
• The Blues beat the Avalanche for the second time this season on Monday night, and have won the last six contests between the teams, although three of those were in overtime or by shootout
• Winnipeg and Dallas are only three points behind Colorado in the standings, but both are some way back in the betting odds

The St. Louis Blues may not have actually seen the betting odds that had the Colorado Avalanche listed as twice as likely to win the Central Division going into Monday night’s contest, but they certainly played like they had.

The defending Stanley Cup champions promptly put a 5-2 beating on the young upstarts from the Rocky Mountains – their sixth straight win over the Avs – ending Colorado’s nine-game point streak in the process. As a result, Colorado’s average NHL division odds moved from an average of +140 to +150, while the Blues’ odds dropped 30 points to an average of +250.

2020 Central Division Odds

Odds taken Dec. 17

Heavyweight Fight

In what could well be shaping up for a mammoth playoff clash down the road, both the Blues and the Avalanche should be in the running right to the end of the regular season. Both are in the top five overall in the NHL standings, but both have got there in very different ways.

The Avs are where they are based on scoring and speed. Led by the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, their 3.61 goals per game average is tops in the league. However, while they benefit from the goaltending abilities of Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz, they do give up a lot of shots, with the average of 32.8 shots against representing the third-worst mark in the NHL.

The Blues, on the other hand, are getting by with outstanding special teams. They are successfully killing off 84% of opposing team penalties, good for sixth overall in the NHL, while at 22.8% their power play is even better, placing them fifth in the NHL.

Learning to Win

Since the 2013-14 season, when they won the Central Division, the Avs have never finished higher than fourth. Over that same time span, the Blues have only once finished lower than third, winning the division the year after Colorado did and obviously capping that run of consistent excellence with the Stanley Cup last June.

Nathan Mackinnon (@Mackinnon9) and Mikko Rantanen are at it again. 😏 #WNH

📺: https://t.co/HmldCbfL4n @NHLonNBCSports pic.twitter.com/Lo03qfLw8j

— NHL (@NHL) December 12, 2019

The youthful Avs – their average age of 27.1 is the youngest in the NHL – have had to undergo a pretty steep learning curve in the last couple of years as stars such as MacKinnon, Rantanen, and even rookie-of-the-year favorite Cale Makar this year, found their NHL groove.

But while the talent of the Avs is legitimate, the Blues just seem to know how to win when it matters.

Outside Shots

While St. Louis and Colorado are the two favorites for the division crown, Dallas and Winnipeg should both factor into the race down the stretch.

Taking care of the Preds by a 4-1 final on Saturday, the @DallasStars continued their winning ways since a shaky 1-7-1 start as they sit atop this list of success among teams in the Western Conference dating back nearly 2 months pic.twitter.com/KdHHWEgcHK

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) December 15, 2019

Dallas, which last won the division in 2016, has retooled this year by adding the likes of Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski to its nucleus. Meanwhile, Winnipeg, which reached the conference final in 2018, is trying to ensure its window of contention stays open as long as possible, though it suffered mightily with the loss of Dustin Byfuglien, Tylers Myers and Jacob Trouba from its defensive core this past off-season.

However, with both on 43 points, just three back of Colorado, and with the season snaking towards the halfway point, both are firmly in the running, though perhaps lacking the firepower of the top two.

Pick: Blues (+250)