Free NHL Picks Today: St. Louis Blues vs Colorado Avalanche 12/11/22

The St. Louis Blues (12-15-0), the NHL’s worst penalty killing team, welcome the Colorado Avalanche (13-10-2) and their clutch power play offense at Enterprise Center on Sunday. Colorado is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss against the Rangers on Friday, their fourth defeat in a row.

The Avalanche committed only one penalty in the game, holding New York without a power play goal. Mikko Rantanen was the only player to find the net for the Avalanche. Alexandar Georgiev saved an impressive 28 of 29 shots (.965%) in the loss.St. Louis fell 5-2 to the Jets on Thursday.

Robert Thomas and Josh Leivo both scored once for the Blues. Thomas Greiss only had 15 saves on 19 shots against (.789%) in the loss.

HEAD TO HEAD

The Blues won the first meeting between the teams this season, a 3-2 victory in November. Thomas (1G 1A) and Pavel Buchnevich (0G 2A) each had two points to lead St. Louis.

Rantanen (1G 1A) and Cale Makar (0G 2A) each had two points to lead Colorado. Jordan Binnington got the win, saving 45 of 47 shots (.957%).

FACING OFF

Colorado is averaging 3.08 goals per game for the season, 17th in the NHL, and they are taking on a Blues team that is allowing 3.89 goals a game (29th). Meanwhile, St. Louis has found the net 3.00 times a game on average, 22nd in the league, and the Avalanche are allowing opponents to score 2.84 goals per game (9th).

The Avalanche will be looking to add to their second-ranked power play percentage of 30.00% against the Blues, who are the league’s weakest penalty killing team (63.79%).

St. Louis, meanwhile, has scored on 22.22% of their power play opportunities (16th), which the hosts will be aiming to improve on against Colorado’s 21st-ranked 75.58% penalty killing rate.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Nathan MacKinnon (34 points), Rantanen (33), and Makar (24) have been the top skaters this season for the Avalanche. MacKinnon is the 10th-leading point scorer in the NHL. Rantanen is among the league leaders with his 16 goals (8th), while MacKinnon is among the league leaders with his 26 assists (4th).

Makar has also been an offensive leader for Colorado, scoring six and assisting 18. In the net, Georgiev (11-5-1) is Colorado’s top goaltender by goals against average. He has a 2.76 GAA and a .918% save percentage. Thomas and Jordan Kyrou lead the Blues in scoring with 24 and 22 points, respectively.

Thomas has six goals and 18 assists, while Kyrou has 10 goals and 12 assists. Binnington (9-11-0) has the best goals against average for St. Louis at 3.42. He has a save percentage of .889%.