Leafs vs Avalanche Prediction, Odds & Start Time – Monday Night Hockey

• The Avalanche are a -250 home moneyline favorite over the Maple Leafs on Monday, Jan. 12th
• Toronto has rebounded for a strong run after a rough start to the season
• See my Maple Leafs vs Avalanche predictions below, plus prop pick and lineups

The puck drops Monday evening in a battle between the NHL’s best team in Colorado, versus a Toronto team that has righted the ship after a poor start to the campaign with a strong 7-0-2 run in their last nine contests.

The Maple Leafs (22-15-7, 19-25 ATS, 51 pts) square off against the Avalanche (33-4-7, 25-19 ATS, 73 pts), with the Leafs sixth in the Atlantic and the Avs tops in the league.

Action is set to get underway at 7 pm PT / 10 pm ET from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, with ESPN+ providing the coverage in the United States and Rogers Sportsnet showcasing it in Canada.

Maple Leafs vs Avalanche Prediction

• Over 6.5 Total Goals (-115 at DraftKings)

My Maple Leafs vs Avalanche prediction has me not wanting to pick either squad to win straight up. This series has been remarkably close since 2019, with each posting six victories against one another, with no team taking more than two games in a row.

Per the NHL odds, our SBD formula has the favorite Avalanche holding court 3.71-2.86, which translates to over 6.5 goals being scored between the Maple Leafs vs Avalanche. That dovetails with recent battles, with nine of the twelve skirmishes resulting in seven or more goals.

William Nylander returned from a six-game absence Saturday and paced the Leafs with three points in a 5-0 triumph over Vancouver. I expect him, along with captain Auston Matthews, to get in on the action, and of course NHL points co-leader Nathan MacKinnon to have a big night.

The starting goalies feature Joseph Woll for Toronto and Trent Miner for Colorado. The former has two shutouts in his last five outings, but has surrendered at least three markers in five of eight. The latter will be making just his fourth career NHL start, and despite coming off posting a goose egg vs CBJ, he gave up four in the previous start to NJ.

TOR vs COL Season Stats/Ranks

The Leafs are a strange anomaly in that they score a lot of goals but are poor on the power play, yet give up a lot of snipes yet are outstanding on the PK. However, since December 27th, they’re tops in the NHL in both the man advantage and penalty kill. Colorado is ridiculously amazing in every respect – except one random one, where they are near the basement on the PP, despite being first in several other categories.

Unsurprisingly the Avs are tops in the Stanley Cup Odds at +375, while Toronto is lagging behind at +5000.

Maple Leafs vs Avalanche Props Pick

• Brock Nelson Anytime Goal Scorer (+180 at FanDuel)

For a prop bet, I’m going with Avalanche forward Brock Nelson to light the lamp. He’s done just that on seven occasions in the last seven contests, scoring at least one in five of those affairs. He’s second in team scoring with 21 goals, and is currently on a heater, plus has longer odds than the top-three choices on the board.

If you want to parlay over 6.5 total goals, plus Nelson to snipe, that total pays out a cool +275.

Maple Leafs vs Avalanche Odds

The Avalanche are currently heavy -250 moneyline favorites and are laying 1.5 goals on the puck line at -105. The Maple Leafs come back as a +210 underdog, while the total currently sits at 6.5 goals at FanDuel.

The implied win probability of COL at -250 is 71.4%. You’d need to wager $250 on the favorites to win $100, while a $100 bet on the underdogs clears $210.

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Updated odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 2:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 12.

Maple Leafs vs Avalanche Projected Lineups

Toronto Projected Lineup

Forwards

Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Max Domi

Matias Maccelli – John Tavares – William Nylander

Easton Cowan – Nicolas Roy – Nick Robertson

Steven Lorentz – Scott Laughton – Bobby McMann

Defense

Morgan Rielly – Brandon Carlo

Jake McCabe – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Simon Benoit – Trey Stecher

Goaltenders

Joseph Woll

Dennis Hildeby

Injuries: Anthony Stolarz (upper body), Chris Tanev (groin), Dakota Joshua (kidney), Dakota Mermis (lower body)

Colorado Projected Lineup

Forwards

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas

Ross Colton – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin

Parker Kelly – Jack Drury – Victor Olofsson

Zakhar Bardakov – T.J. Tynan – Gavin Brindley

Defense

Sam Malinski – Cale Makar

Josh Manson – Brent Burns

Samuel Girard – Ilya Solovyov

Goaltenders

Trent Miner

Scott Wedgewood

Injuries: Gabriel Landeskog (upper body), Mackenzie Blackwood (lower body), Devon Toews (upper body), Logan O’Connor (hip), Joel Kiviranta (lower body)