What: Colorado Avalanche at Pittsburgh Penguins NHL Picks And Best Bets
When: Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
After stumbling starts to the NHL season, both the Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins look to be getting their legs underneath them and are now heading in the right direction.
Colorado (16-13) is 3-1 straight up in the last four games as the Avs complete a five-game road trip with this contest. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh (12-13-14) is 5-1 straight up through the past six games.
Oddsmakers are leaning toward the Avalanche in the NHL picks. Colorado is set as -168 road favorites.
 | Puck Line | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | +1.5 (+147) | -168 | O 6.5 (-128) |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | -1.5 (+173) | +142 | U 6.5 (+107) |
There are 11 games on a relatively busy Tuesday NHL schedule. We’ve checked the current NHL odds and selected the Colorado Avalanche vs the Pittsburgh Penguins as being one of the best bets worth taking in the NHL picks. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s jump right into our betting prediction.
When checking the NHL betting lines at any of the leading Vegas sports betting sites, you’ll find that the Avalanche are a top contender in the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup odds. The Avalanche are 1-3-1 in their last five visits to Pittsburgh.
Colorado is 1-3 SU in the last four games against the Penguins. At Pittsburgh, the Avalanche are 1-4 SU in the past five games and 4-6 in their last 10 visits. Overall, Colorado is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games. But the Avs are just 3-6 SU in the last nine games against Pittsburgh. Colorado is 6-3 SU in the club’s past nine road games.
Pittsburgh is 4-0 SU over the last four home games. The Penguins are 0-5 SU in their last five meetings with Central Division teams.
Three of the last four times that Colorado was in Pittsburgh, the total went under. Eleven of Colorado’s last 15 games facing teams from the Eastern Conference have gone over. As well, 13 of the last 20 Avalanche games against Metropolitan Division squads also hit on the over.
The over has hit in five of Pittsburgh’s last seven games. The total has also gone over five of the last six times the Penguins were playing against a Western Conference team.
In the NHL picks, the betting favorite is 3-5 SU in the last eight games between the Avalanche and Penguins. Colorado is 13-6 SU as a betting favorite this season. The Avs are 5-10 against the puck line on the road. Pittsburgh is 6-10 against the puck line at home. The Penguins are 6-15-3 as the underdog in the betting line.
Making a major deal with the San Jose Sharks on Monday, the Avalanche were getting themselves a new goalie for the second week in a row. Colorado sent No. 1 goalie Alexandar Georgiev to the Sharks in a deal that was bringing San Jose’s No. 1 goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to the Avalanche.
That followed on the heels of another trade that shipped Colorado backup Justus Annunen to the Nashville Predators for journeyman backup Scott Wedgewood.
Wedgewood was shutting out the New Jersey Devils in Colorado’s last game, so it may not be Blackwood in goal for this game. Wedgewood has won two of his three appearances for the Avalanche. For San Jose this season, Blackwood is 6-9-3 in 19 games with a 3.00 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
Right-winger Mikko Rantanen is leading the Avs with 15 goals. Center Nathan MacKinnon is out front with 32 assists and 41 points.
Pittsburgh has nearly battled all the way back to .500 hockey after sitting with a 3-7 record 10 games into the season. Nine times this season they’ve squandered multi-goal leads and lost games.
Goalie Tristan Jarry has won his past four starts. Center Blake Lizotte has scored four goals in the past six games. Their current 5-1 stretch came immediately on the heels of a stretch in which the Penguins won once in seven games.
Captain Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 19 assists and 27 points. the 11 goals scored by forward Rickard Rakell are tops on the club.
The slow starts that were plaguing the Avalanche for much of the season may be a thing of the past. They’ve scored the first goal in three straight games and four out of five. Prior to that, Colorado had given up the first goal in five successive games. However, the Avs have surrendered an NHL-high 42 first-period goals.
Colorado has allowed just one goal over the past two games. The Avs had given up 27 in the previous six games. Coming off their best defensive effort of the season, take the Avalanche to win on the road at Pittsburgh in the Tuesday Vegas NHL picks.
