NHL Hockey Betting: Colorado Avalanche at Edmonton Oilers

Short slate of NHL games on Wednesday and the first of two contests involving a Canadian team has the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Colorado Avalanche at Rexall Place. The Oilers are playing out the string at this point, having been eliminated from playoff qualification over a week ago. Edmonton has lost 8 of their last 10 games (2-5-3) and are now more interested in winning the NHL draft lottery and selecting future superstar Connor McDavid than anything else. Edmonton has the third worst record in the league, one point better than Arizona and six points better than hapless Buffalo. The Oilers are 12-21-3 at home and coming off a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Were it not for home ice wins over the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs and the horrible-on-the road Philadelphia Flyers (Flyers 9-20-10 away from home) the Oilers would be riding an 11 game losing streak.

The Colorado Avalanche started the season in dismal form and by December looked every bit to be dead for the season. They’ve turned in around in the second half but it still may be too little too late. The Avs have dropped their last two games but are 6-3-1 in their last 10. They’re coming off hard fought but crucial losses at Anaheim and Calgary, losing both games by a single goal. Colorado is now 10 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 10 games to play. They have two games in hand over the Winnipeg Jets who now hold the final wild card spot but they still may just be running out of time to make up the deficit. The fact that every team ahead of them is playing at least as well as they are (if not better) doesn’t help matters.

The Avs have a tough game at Vancouver on deck but that matters little here. They need this win and they’re facing a team that has packed it in for the season. The Oilers have plenty of individual talent so they’ve got a ‘puncher’s chance’ but little more. They just don’t seem to have the intensity right now to slow down a Colorado team pushing to make the playoffs.

BET COLORADO AVALANCHE -145 OVER EDMONTON OILERS