NHL odds, predictions: Avalanche take on Wild in Stanley Cup Playoffs second round

The Colorado Avalanche posted the best home record during the 2025-26 NHL season with a 26-9-6 record and have yet to be beaten at Ball Arena in the playoffs, winning all five of their games there in the first two rounds of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Vegas Golden Knights will need to find a way to record at least one win in Denver if they want to make the third Stanley Cup Final in nine seasons.

Colorado will face Vegas in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, which begins Wednesday at Ball Arena. The Avalanche posted two 2-1 home victories, including one in overtime, against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of this year’s playoffs before winning all three second-round games in their own building against the Minnesota Wild, including another in overtime.

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The Avalanche have scored 18 of their 24 goals against the Wild at home, with 14 different players converting. Of their 17 playoff scorers, only two did not score at Ball Arena. Nathan MacKinnon, who won the Maurice Richard Trophy this season with a career-high 53 goals, scored three of his team’s best seven playoff goals in the Mile High City.

Vegas improved to 4-2 on the road in the postseason and advanced to the conference finals with its 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of their second-round matchup. The Golden Knights have scored at least five goals in each of their road victories, with Mitch Marner (six), Brett Howden (five) and Pavel Dorofeyev as well as defenseman Shea Theodore (three each) making important offensive contributions.

Through Saturday, 23 players have reached double-digit points in the playoffs, but only two are members of the Avalanche. MacKinnon, who enters the Western Conference finals with a six-game scoring streak, had 13 points while Martin Necas had 11.

Four Golden Knights have had 10 or more points so far, with Mitch Marner leading the league with 18. The 29-year-old right winger is tied with MacKinnon and two others for third in goals with seven, Howden is second with eight and Dorofeyev leads all NHL players with nine.

The Avalanche won two of their three regular season meetings – including one in a shootout – with the Golden Knights, with both victories coming on the road. Vegas recorded an overtime victory in the lone game in Colorado. Martin Necas scored three goals and set up three more while MacKinnon had three assists for the Avs, while Marner and Tomas Hertl each had a goal and three assists for the Golden Knights.

The teams are meeting in the playoffs for only the second time. Vegas defeated Colorado in six games in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs as William Karlsson had three goals and four assists, defenseman Shea Theodore had four goals and Reilly Smith had one goal and three assists for the Golden Knights. Makar recorded a goal and six assists, MacKinnon scored two goals and set up four more and captain Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and three assists for the Avs.

Two offensively active players in this series enter this confrontation with different allegiances. Current Vegas left winger Brandon Saad has four goals and an assist for Colorado in 2021, while center Nicolas Roy – who the Avalanche acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs last March – has two goals for the Golden Knights.

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THE NHL betting Odds at major sports betting sites peg the Avalanche as a heavy favorite in the Western Conference Finals, with futures bets odds between -250 and -275. Meanwhile, Golden Knights cost between +200 and +220. Learn how to read betting odds here.

Choice: Avalanche to advance

The Golden Knights certainly responded to head coach John Tortorella, going 7-0-1 in their eight regular season games after replacing the fired Bruce Cassidy, before defeating the Utah Mammoth and Ducks in six games in the playoffs. But the Avalanche continued their dominance from the regular season into the playoffs, and they’ll have revenge in mind in this series as well.

Colorado went 8-1 through the first two rounds, but faced tough tests. Each of the first two games of its first round against Los Angeles ended in a 2-1 decision, including one in overtime, and the Avs entered the third period of the last two games with an identical lead.

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The first game against Minnesota was wild (no pun intended) as Colorado led 3-0 and allowed five of the next six goals before scoring five of the final six for a 9-6 victory. The clubs split the next two games before the Avalanche broke a tie midway through the third period of Game 4 and cruised to a 5-2 victory and overcame a three-goal deficit early in Game 5 by scoring twice in the final 3:33 of the third period before completing the comeback in overtime to eliminate the Wild.

MacKinnon has scored a goal in each of his last six outings after being held in check in Colorado’s first three playoff games and Necas recorded four multi-point performances while recording a goal and eight assists against Minnesota after a first-round effort in which he had just two assists. The rest of the Avs roster also contributed, as 19 of the 21 skaters who appeared in a playoff game landed on the scoresheet.

The Golden Knights have plenty of firepower themselves, and Colorado will need goalie Scott Wedgewood to be at his best. The 33-year-old was scratched from the Game 3 loss to Minnesota after allowing three goals on 12 shots and moved to the bench in the next game, but he replaced Mackenzie Blackwood (three goals allowed on 13 shots) in Game 5 after one period and stopped all seven shots he faced for the victory.

Carter Hart was solid in the Vegas crease against Anaheim after having several shaky performances against Utah in the first round. He’ll be facing a much more potent and experienced offensive team this time around, and I’m not convinced he’ll be able to withstand what Colorado throws at him, so I expect the Avs to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in five years.

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