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The Colorado Avalanche will try to climb back into the win column on Thursday night against a Florida team that most had prematurely left for dead.

Florida Panthers (27-28-10) @ Colorado Avalanche (37-23-6)

9:00 PM ET, Thursday, March 11, 2010
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
On: XM Sattelite Radio Channel 238

• The Colorado Avalanche rank 9th on offense, and average 2.9 goals per game. The Avalanche are 17.9% on the power play and have 47 power play goals.
• The Florida Panthers rank 26th on offense, and average 2.5 goals per game. The Panthers are 15.6% on the power play and have 40 power play goals.
• The Avalanche average 3.2 goals per game at home, and give up 2.4 goals against on defense.
• The Panthers average 2.3 goals per game on the road, and give up 2.9 goals against on defense.

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Florida Panthers: +160

Just when it appeared that the Florida Panthers were giving up on their season, they manufacture a three game winning streak. The Panthers have been getting it done lately without arguably their best player Nathan Horton. David Booth has returned from his concussion with a bang and defenseman Brian McCabe has been racking up the assists.

It appears that the Panthers decision not to trade Thomas Vokoun at the deadline was a good move. The Panthers are only six points out of a playoff spot and although it might seem unlikely, some teams ahead of them are prime for a big letdown. Florida suddenly has something to play for and it will be interesting to see how they respond

 Colorado Avalanche: -190

The Colorado Avalanche had a big opportunity to make up some ground and pull into a virtual tie for the Northwest division lead on Thursday. Instead, they dropped yet another game to their nemesis, the Vancouver Canucks. The Avs will be looking to rebound on home ice against a Florida team that suddenly seems formidible.

The Avalanche have gone 2-3 in their 5 games since the Olympic break and although they have looked good at times, they have also looked bad at times too. Milan Hejduk returned from a knee injury and youngsters Chris Stewart and Matt Duchesne have been among the hottest players in the NHL for the last week or so.

Colorado has owned the Panthers, going 10-4-1 in their last 15 meetings and the Avs are 6-2 in their last 8 home games.

The Colorado Avalanche have been a bit of a Cinderella story all season, but it appears that the clock is slowly creeping toward midnight. The Avs have no momentum right now while the reborn Panthers do. I’ll take the Panthers in a road upset on Thursday night in a close low scoring game.

Winning Pick: Florida Panthers +160

The Predators began a four-game road trip on Tuesday on the right foot, a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. Things get exponentially tougher Thursday night as they have the daunting task of heading into the Shark Tank in San Jose to face the Western Conference leaders, a team that has taken two of three from Nashville this year. Each game has been close though, as they have all been decided by just one goal. That is a trend that has gone on for quite a while with eight of the last 11 games in the series going down to the wire.

The Sharks were victorious in their last meeting, a 4-3 barn burner on February 6th from Nashville. Danny Heatley was the offensive catalyst in that one, notching two goals and an assist. He has notoriously been a thorn in the side of the Predators, with five goals and 11 points in eight career games versus the Preds. Big Joe Thornton has also burned Nashville on numerous occasions, the last game being no exception as he tallied two assists for San Jose in that game, and he has 30 career helpers in 27 games.

Nashville’s victory over Atlanta was an all around team effort. They took an early lead and then put forth a strong defensive effort backstopped by Dan Ellis, who made 30 saves in the victory. A textbook road victory game according to head coach Barry Trotz.

“The first period I thought we played real well,” said Trotz. “I know they were playing with a lot of urgency. I thought we played a real good road period to start.”

The win gave Nashville an ever so slight two-point cushion on Calgary for the seventh spot in the Western Conference, but they’ll have their work cut out for them if they want to keep that lead. They had to play their second game in a row without Shea Weber, their defensive anchor who also has 12 goals and 24 assists this year.

Not only are they missing Webber, but they have to run the California gauntlet that has them in San Jose tonight, with games against Anaheim and Los Angeles still to come. Combine that with the fact that Tuesay’s win was just the club’s third in its last 10 on the road, and they’ll be lucky to come out with four points on this road trip.

The Sharks aren’t going to be happy that the Chicago Blackhawks have joined them as the top dog’s in Western Conference with 93 points, so they’ll be playing with a little extra motivation tonight.

Here are some NHL betting trends for this Western Conference showdown tonight:

• Home team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings.
• Favorite is 21-8 in the last 29 meetings.
• Predators are 5-17-1 in the last 23 meetings in San Jose.
• Predators are 3-11 in the last 14 meetings.

With Webber out and the firepower the Sharks possess, I’m going to go against the trends in this one and say the Sharks take this by a 4-1 type score. That means a play against the -1 ½ puckline, which gets you a healthy +135, is the move I’m suggesting tonight.

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The Carolina Hurricanes are for real. They legitimized this little run they’ve been on by taking the league leading Washington Capitals to overtime last night, losing 4-3 in the extra frame, but just the fact they were able to hang with the Caps with a backup goalie in net speaks volumes as to how good they are playing as a team.

They’ll really get a chance to grab some headlines with a win tonight as they face another one of the league’s elite when they welcome Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins to town. This will be a matchup of two of the NHL’s hottest teams as the Pens have gone a perfect 4-0 since the Olympic break, while Carolina has points in nine of their last ten games.

This will be the third meeting of the year, with both teams coming away with 3-2 road victories. The last time they faced each other, the Hurricanes walked into Mellon Arena on December 7 th and left with a 3-2 win. In their first encounter, Pittsburgh rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 shootout win at the RBC Center in October 14 th, giving Carolina that all important point.

With their streak, the Penguins have taken over top spot in the Atlantic Division. The ‘Canes still have an outside shot at the playoffs but their atrocious start really put them in a hole. Still, if they keep putting up points and the Bruins and Rangers, who are 8 th and 9 th respectively, keep laying eggs, Carolina Hurricanes could just surge their way right into the postseason.

There have been a few stories coming out of Pittsburgh other than their winning streak, some good and some not so good. In case you missed it, Matt Cooke put a very questionable hit on Boston’s star forward Marc Savard, a blind-side shoulder to the head moments after he released the puck from the high slot.

The news came down that he would not be suspended by the league sighting other similar infractions that had gone un-disciplined this year; the one that comes to most people’s mind is the Brad Richards hit on David Booth. The league has also come out and stated that this type of “east-west” hit will be met with a suspension next year, but that’s next year.

The other big story was that of Sidney Crosby’s missing Olympic equipment. Well, it’s been found. Apparently one of the gloves was placed in Patrice Bergeron’s bag by mistake, while the other glove and his gold medal winning stick were found in Toronto. They caught it just before it was due to be shipped out to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in Russia, and it’s a good thing they did as getting that back from Russia would have no doubt been a headache.

Here are some NHL betting trends for tonight’s matchup:

• Penguins are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.
• Penguins are 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Carolina.
• Under is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings.
• Under is 5-2-1 in the last 8 meetings in Carolina.
• Road team is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.

All the distractions aside, Pittsburgh is playing great team hockey and have the much better goaltender going into this one. Carolina is playing great as well, but considering they have a backup as their starter, I just can’t put my hard earned dollars on them. Getting the Penguins at -140 is too good to pass up, and that’s my play tonight.

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