Colorado Avalanche vs Florida Panthers

Florida's defense has certainly tightened up while winning six of nine. The Panthers are on a 10-3 run UNDER the total after a 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh. Colorado comes off a 2-1 loss to Montreal. Goalie Scott Wedgewood is out (leg injury), but goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has the team's best save percentage (.935) and will carry the load for a while. The Avalanche is on an 8-5 run UNDER the total. Take Florida/Colorado UNDER the total. 

Colorado won the first two on this road trip, playing strong defense in wins at Philadelphia (3-2) and Washington (2-1). They've won six of eight, allowing 20 goals. Florida's defense is 13th in penalty killing, though the offense has been struggling, losing four of five. They come home from a two-game road trip with losses at Winnipeg and Chicago, scoring four goals. These teams last met in February at this arena, and Florida won, 4-0, shutting out the top-scoring team in the league. Take Colorado/Florida UNDER the total. 

Colorado is second in the Central Division standings and has a winning road mark. The offense is No. 1 in the NHL in goals scored (3.73 per game). Colorado is 21-6 on the road when playing its fourth game in seven days, plus 27-9 revenging a loss where the opponent scored four or more goals. Florida's offense is just 26th in shooting percentage. Florida is 30-35 in non-conference action, while Colorado is 56-30 on the road against teams that average 29.5+ shots on goal per game. Play Colorado. 

This is the first meeting of the season and Florida comes into the game riding a six-game win streak and much of it can be attributed to great goaltending by Sergei Bobrovsky, who has won his past five starts while allowing a total of only nine goals. Bobrovsky is 19-9-1 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage with two shutouts this season. The Panthers defeated Vegas 4-1 on Thursday and Bobrovsky stopped 26 of 27 shots. Florida has allowed a total of just 10 goals during the win streak. Colorado also has won four straight, but the past two weren't easy as they both went into overtime, including a 5-4 win over Dallas two nights ago. Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev has allowed four goals in each of his past two games. Take the Panthers.

The Florid Panthers have not defended well this season and lately, they have been giving up a lot and scoring a lot as well. That has led to an 8-1 mark to the over in their last 9 games. Those 9 games have seen a combined total of 73 goals scored or over 8 per contest! These teams show a recent history that has trended the same way as 5 of the last 7 meetings have eclipsed the total. The last 12 played in Florida have topped the total 8 times as well as 4 of the last 5. There certainly is great potential for a high-scoring game, and history backs up the present. Make the play OVER the total.