Happy New Year! Hope you celebrated well and are excited for successful and forward-moving year.

The NHL skates into the new year today with a few tasty games on the slate and one of them is going down in Denver between the Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche.

In this battle of two Western Conference foes, who will come out on top?

Here is my analysis, a game prediction and my favorite player prop of the game!

Let’s get into it…

Vegas on Top but Short-handed

Vegas has been fantastic to start the season, sitting first in the Pacific Division and tied for 1st in the Western Conference with the Dallas Stars.

The Knights have won 3 of their last 5, their most recent win coming on New Years Eve against the Predators in a shootout.

They are banged up right now though, with Jonathan Marchessault going on the IR and Jack Eichel still out of the lineup.

Even without these two missing right now, the Knights are still cruising and will look to put up a great performance against the Avalanche on the road.

MacKinnon Returns Just in Time

The Avs star is back, returning from his upper body injury and is looking to get rolling again.

Without MacKinnon, the Avs haven’t been as dynamic, as you would expect but the likes of Miko Rantannen and Cale Makar have stepped up even more.

The Avs are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games but have lost 3 straight mostly due to allowing 5+ goals in 3 straight games.

With Mackinnon back and looking to get off to a great start in 2023, can the Avs grab a big Western conference win at home against the ailing Knights?

Odds

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FanDuel

Caesars

BetRivers

BetMGM

Spread

• Golden Knights +1.5 (-188)
• Avalanche -1.5 (+152)

Moneyline

• Golden Knights (+140)
• Avalanche (-170)

Total

• Over 6 (+102)
• Under 6 (-128)

Prediction

This feels like a great spot for the Avalanche to get a big win and I think MacKinnon has a great game tonight against Vegas.

I think they shore things up on the defensive end after allowing 5+ in 3 straight and lock this Knights team down and really put it on the Knights tonight!

Give me the Avalanche in regulation to get the job done for the nice value.

Best Bet

Avalanche in regulation (-106)

Player Prop of the Game

Cale Makar o3.5 Shots on Goal (+104)

Cale Makar has been ripping.

He has 4+ SOGs in 7 of his last 8 games and has been absolutely firing.

Even with MacKinnon back in the lineup, Makar will have plenty of chances to rip the puck.

For the plus money value, this is my favorite prop of the game!

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