Vegas Golden Knights vs. Colorado Avalanche Pick Center

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SPREAD

TOTAL

Vegas Golden Knights

-120

-1.5
(+215)

O 6
(-120)

Colorado Avalanche

+110

+1.5
(-235)

U 6
(+110)

NHL

FINAL (2/18/2019)

Time: 9:00 PM EST Venue: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo., 80204 / With his team struggling, Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant shook up his lines for a game against Nashville on Saturday. The formula worked and the Golden Knights salvaged the final game of their four-game homestand with a win over the Predators. Gallant's strategy might have been a wake-up call for Vegas, which had lost seven of its last nine before Saturday. Now the Golden Knights will try to carry that momentum into Monday night's game at the Colorado Avalanche. The changes seemed to benefit forward Max Pacioretty, who scored two goals against the Predators. He ended a five-game goal drought and had his first multi-goal game since Nov. 29." When you're losing, you have to try new things, don't you?" Gallant said Saturday. "The team hasn't been good enough. Thursday night, they were minus-3. But it's not about our line, it's about our team. Some nights, it's the so-called first line. When you're winning, it's different lines that carry you. When you're losing, it's the same thing. I'm not blaming those guys. I'm just trying to make our team better. Hopefully, you maybe shake up a few things and find some magic." Colorado coach Jared Bednar has tried everything to shake his team out of a slump that is now in its third month. The Avalanche (23-24-11) have lost nine of their last 10 and six in a row on home ice. They have rarely put together a complete game since early December when they were atop the Western Conference standings. Some nights they are scoring but the defense and goaltending is absent. Other nights they get good goaltending but can't score. That was the case against St. Louis on Saturday. It was a scoreless game into the third and then the Blues scored twice in a minute and added an empty-netter in a 3-0 win. Colorado had 32 shots on goal but couldn't solve Blues goalie Jake Allen." The past two games defensively we've been doing good things, but the offense, it's tough right now, tough to find the back of the net," forward Mikko Rantanen said after Saturday's loss. The Avalanche are quickly falling out of playoff contention after losing 23 of their last 29 games. Colorado has picked up just 20 points since Dec. 7." We can't feel sorry for ourselves, we just have to keep pounding ahead," Rantanen said. "There's a lot of games left. This was a really important game and it sucks to lose. We can't get stuck in the mud, we have to forget and move on." Vegas (32-24-4) is securely in third place in the Pacific Division but has fallen nine points behind Calgary and San Jose in a division it won as an expansion team last year. The Golden Knights haven't had the same success this year but are still in a playoff position. They also have found some depth at goaltending. After Marc-Andre Fleury allowed 17 goals in four straight starts, Vegas plugged rookie Malcom Subban into the lineup for just the eighth time this year on Saturday vs. the Predators, and he stopped 29 shots to help the Golden Knights end a five-game home losing streak.--Field Level Media