The NHL Western Conference Finals enter Game 4 on Monday with the Colorado Avalanche having a chance to sweep the Edmonton Oilers. Will Colorado become this year’s first Stanley Cup finalist?
Edmonton stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl need to be at the top of their game for the team to survive to see another day. Bookmaker Bovada has the odds at -150 for McDavid to register over 1.5 points Monday night and at +118 for Draisaitl to enjoy a multi-point outing.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: June 5th, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
The Oilers have faced elimination twice already this postseason and both McDavid and Draisaitl having productive nights with the team’s life on the line, especially McDavid, who combined for five points in Game 6 and Game 7 against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. Meanwhile, Draisaitl had an assist in both games.
In Game 3 against the Avalanche, McDavid became the sixth ever Oiler to reach 30 points for a single playoff year, but Draisaitl struggled to make an impact and he has now suddenly gone scoreless in back-to-back games after having a historical six-game multi-point streak.
There have been only four occasions in NHL history where a team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs to advance to the next round so the Oilers face one mammoth of a task, but the series could still get interesting if they can get a win or two on the board.
Colorado has been very impressive throughout the season, but the injuries are slowly piling up for the team and surely they won’t be able to keep up their level of play if more players end up getting hurt.
The Avalanche lost starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper in Game 1 and centerman Nazem Kadri was knocked out of the lineup very early on in Game 3. Colorado head coach Jared Bednar has already confirmed that Kadri won’t play a part in the series anymore. Depth forwards Andre Burakovsky and Nicolas Aube-Kubel have also picked up injuries.
Bednar has a very talented group of forwards at his disposal but losing a player of Kadri’s caliber is definitely a bitter pill to swallow, especially after he led the charge against Edmonton in Game 2 with three assists. The veteran forward has averaged over a point per game in the playoffs and he leaves pretty big skates to fill.
