NHL Tuesday best bets: Avalanche to make their mark

Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals begins on Tuesday night, and whether you choose sides or player props, there is plenty of value on the board.

Let's comb through it.

Oilers (+150) @ Avalanche (-180)

All season long, I've believed the Colorado Avalanche are the best team in hockey. They dealt with an overwhelming number of injuries throughout the year and yet weren't ruled out for top seed in the NHL until the final whistle of Game 81.

The Avalanche returned to full health - or close to it - in time for the playoffs and have looked every bit as good as expected.

Through two rounds, the team owns an 8-2 record and has controlled larger shares of the shot attempts (60.50%), goals (61.70%), and scoring chances (62.83%) than anybody at five-on-five. Everyone drools over Colorado's star players - understandably so - but the club has speed and skill throughout its lineup.

While the Edmonton Oilers' top line can keep up with anybody, their talent pool just isn't deep enough to match Colorado's.

A projected second line of Evander Kane, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Kailer Yamamoto doesn't seem quite as potent as Artturi Lehkonen, Nazem Kadri, and Mikko Rantanen, and the Oilers don't have an Andre Burakovsky-caliber scorer on line three. Not to mention, depth wingers like Josh Archibald and Zack Kassian are borderline unusable.

This game might come down to Mike Smith. Edmonton ranks 14th among playoff sides in chance suppression at five-on-five. If the team gave up opportunities in bulk to Los Angeles and Calgary, it seems fair to expect the same against Colorado - except the Avs have much more firepower and finish in their lineup.

If Smith doesn't stand on his head, this will probably turn into a track meet the Oilers can't keep up in.

Look for the Avalanche to make a statement and win an exciting contest inside 60.

Bet: Avalanche in regulation (-120)

Evan Bouchard over 2.5 shots (+110)

The Avalanche gave up a lot of volume to defensemen in the regular season. Only 10 teams conceded more shots per game to the position, none of which are still playing.

That makes trigger-happy rearguards like Bouchard very attractive. The Oilers are going to need offense from him - and their defenders in general - to have any chance of keeping up with the Avs.

Bouchard has proven more than capable of providing in the offensive zone, ranking 11th among all defenders in points per minute at five-on-five and showing flashes against this Avalanche team during head-to-head meetings.

The blue-liner piled up 12 shots over three matchups, attempting 22 total. He hit in two of the three games and fell just one shy in the exception after missing the net on three occasions that night.

At plus money, Bouchard seems like a great value in Game 1.

Nazem Kadri over 3.5 shots (+115)

There is a lot to like with Kadri in this spot. For one, he has been very productive on home soil, going over the number 19 times through the last 30 games in Colorado for a 63% success rate. These odds imply a 46.5% chance of repeating that success.

Kadri's regular-season work against Edmonton also leaves room for optimism. He attempted 15 shots, eight of which hit the target, over two meetings. The Oilers gave up a lot of volume to centers during the year, and their playoff numbers are actually far worse, so Kadri gets a juicy matchup that he has already taken advantage of in the past.

There's also the linemate situation. Kadri has a higher shot-attempt rate with Rantanen as his top winger rather than Gabriel Landeskog, and he also became an ultra-efficient shooter with Lehkonen on his line - albeit over a small sample. As far as Kadri's shot volume is concerned, these are his ideal linemates.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.