Betting approach to St. Louis Blues vs. Colorado Avalanche Game 5

Tuesday's NHL action went our way, which is always nice, so let's keep the good times rolling as the Stanley Cup playoffs continue on.

With Tampa sweeping Florida, this rotation in the schedule now holds only the Avalanche-Blues series. With just one game, plays and angles are limited, but that shouldn't stop us from finding a few bets worth making.

Let's get to the spots.

Colorado -1.5 (+100 FD)

Prior to Jordan Binnington's injury, Colorado had scored just four goals in two games against the Blues to start the series.

Since he was knocked out early in Game 3, the Avalanche have poured in 11 goals in just shy of two full games.

The Blues goalie was playing some terrific hockey, and his absence has clearly shifted this entire series. The Avalanche have won each of the last two games by three goals, and now are back home where they've been shooting at will this postseason.

A bet here on the puckline is nothing more than following what has occurred since the forced change in net for St. Louis.

Pavel Buchnevich point (-125 CZR)

I initially was going to bet on a Buchnevich assist, which comes in with terrific odds at +150 to +165. However, Caesars has a competitive price here for the point, which is far safer considering Buchnevich did finally score a goal last game.

If you can't find good odds for a point, then by all means, target the assist at plus-money. Since Buch was moved up to the Blues' top line in advance of Game 2, he has four assists and a goal. 

He has nine total points in 10 playoff games and a point in five of seven against Colorado this year. While I do think Colorado wins comfortably as I just mentioned, that doesn't mean St. Louis can't get involved in the fun.

Their scoring actually takes a slight jump this postseason when skating as the visitor, so we follow that trend and load up one of the most reliable players they've had on the ice.

Colton Parayko over 1.5 SOG (-120 DK)

Shots on goal props are becoming so incredibly juiced, which is quite the disappointment if you've been following them for much of the season. We used to have the ability to play these as straights throughout the league, and that is slowly drifting away from us.

I mention that to say that finding a guy hitting frequently at -120 certainly catches the eye, and I think we have a good one here in Colton Parayko, one of St. Louis's top defensemen.

Parayko has gone over 1.5 shots in three of four this series and seven of 10 this postseason. He's had overall success against Colorado this year as well, covering this number in five of seven meetings thus far.

The Avalanche have allowed 10 shots per game to the defensemen position in these playoffs, and Parayko is operating with the type of volume I like to follow. In his past three games, he's gotten off 14 shot attempts, tied for third-most on the Blues in that span.

He's also covered this prop in both road games in this series.

While he has just scraped by this line in some instances, the true kick over the edge for me is seeing his attempts in two recent games, including the last one, at six total. That is some real nice volume that has drawn me in Wednesday night.

Additional thoughts

Colorado shouldn't have much issues getting shots off, but I'm not yet sure how to attack that belief. I'll likely do a FanDuel SGP of a few players to reach two or three shots, or maybe I bet on Ville Husso's saves off the idea that volume is coming his way.

After all, Colorado averages 45.25 shots per game at home this postseason. The two guys that stick out on the Avalanche end are Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri, both of whom have had solid games this series and have hit their SOG prop at a steady rate against the Blues all season. They are heavily juiced, so we'd have to combine them in a parlay.

Those plays will have to wait, as the alt-line and saves betting markets aren't yet open. Be sure to follow me on Twitter, @griffybets, where I will be sharing any additional looks into this game.

Enjoy the lone game of the evening, and let's cash some bets.