| The Colorado Avalanche host the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal playoff series tonight at the Pepsi Center.
Minnesota has had an edge over the past 10 meetings, picking up six wins. Minnesota is 5-2 SU in the past seven, but just 1-4 in the past five in Denver. Only two of the past 10 have gone over the total.
The Avalanche have to find a way to put the ‘advantage’ back into home-ice advantage, particularly in the playoffs. Colorado is only 2-5 in its past seven and 7-10 in its past 17 postseason games at home. Included in those numbers was a 1-3 home record against the Wild in the 2003 conference quarterfinals.
On Friday, the Wild beat the Avalanche 3-2 to even the best-of-seven first-round series at one game apiece. Minnesota won the game as -130 favorites, and the score was a push on the total of 5.
Pavol Demitra and Mikko Koivu scored in regulation for the Wild (44-28-10). Goalie Niklas Backstrom stopped 24 shots in the win. Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk scored for the Avalanche (44-31-7), who were +110 underdogs in the contest. Jose Theodore made 28 saves in the loss.
Backstrom and Theodore will be back in the nets again tonight.
Colorado is 9-1 SU in its last 10 at home and 6-2 SU in its past eight overall. The total has gone over in five of Colorado's past six at home.
The game starts at 10 pm ET and can be seen on VERSUS and CBC.
BETTING LINE: The Avalanche are a -150 moneyline favorite at Bodog and the over/under total is 5.
BETTING CONSENSUS: About 66 per cent of bets on this game have been placed on Colorado, according to public betting information.
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