Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche NHL Playoffs Game 1 Betting Preview & Predictions

The playoff finals of the NHL Stanley Cup are set to start with the first game between Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche this week. It is set to be on June 15th at 8 PM ET. How is the series going to kick off, and will we see a repeat of the previous game these two teams played together earlier this year? 

Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t start the conference finals okay, and they lost the first two games against the Rangers, but they got their game faces on after that and won the other four games in the series. The last time they faced Colorado Avalanche though, they didn’t prevail, and it was in 2022. Tampa Bay Lightning will likely miss Brayden Point this week, but he still may play if he gets better before the game. 

On the other hand, Colorado Avalanche won all four games they played in their series against the Oilers. Only one of those four games was decisive and ended without any goals from the Oilers, but in the other three, the competition and scoring were heavy. Avalanche has more injured players right now than Lightning with Samuel Girard and Ryan Murray out for good, while Andrew Cogliano and Nazem Kadri are going to be evaluated on a daily basis. 

Let’s check out the top NHL predictions and free picks for the game. 

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche Game 1 Information 

Date/Time: June 15th at 8 PM ET 

TV: ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVA Sports 

Location: Ball Arena, Denver, CO 

There are more streaming and bonus details for the game in our special streaming guide for Game 1. 

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche Odds Analysis 

Right now, Avalanche is the favorite with –161 on the Moneyline, which isn’t as impressive. If we look at the point spread, we will see that Tampa Bay Lightning have a +1.5 goal advantage, while Colorado Avalanche is at –1.5 but the odds for the favorites jumped to +155, which is pretty good if they can cover the spread. Based on the previous games for both teams in the conference finals, the under 6 goals market is priced better at +100, while the over 6 goals market is only priced at –120. 

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Colorado Avalanche Predictions 

Colorado Avalanche to Win @ -161 

Colorado Avalanche seems to be the favorite because of their all-out wins in the four-game series they played in the conference finals. Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t start out their series well with two losses, but they managed to catch up by winning the next four games. Colorado Avalanche also has the advantage of winning against Tampa Bay Lightning earlier in the year with 3-2. 

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Under 6 Goals @ -102 

Looking only at the goals scored during the conference finals for both teams, we see that half of Avalanche’s games and five of the six games for Tampa Bay Lightning in their series against the Rangers ended with fewer than six goals scored by both teams. We will likely see under six goals scored during their first game in the series this week. 

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Our Bonus Prop Pick: A. Vasilevskiy & D. Kuemper both Over 29.5 Saves @ +260 

Andrei Vasilevskiy is Tampa Bay Lightning’s shining star during the postseason, and he is one of the top picks for MVP, too. Kuemper is Avalanche’s top player this season, and along with Vasilevskiy, we think that they will have over 29.5 saves during this first game. 

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