NHL
NHL · Tuesday 20 October
Avalanche vs Devils Best Pick, Prediction and Odds
Bet the Avalanche at -115. Colorado lost only 12 of its 41 road games last season, and our number makes it a 59.8% winner in New Jersey against the price’s 51.1%.
The New Jersey Devils are -105 and the Colorado Avalanche -115 at DraftKings. With the margin out, that is 48.9% for New Jersey and 51.1% for Colorado. The price calls it close to a coin flip. Our figures make the Avalanche a clear favourite.
How 59.8% is reached
Our home win chance is the average of two 2025-26 rates: the home team’s win rate in its own arena and the visitor’s loss rate on the road. Overtime and shootout wins count as wins. Games at a neutral site are in neither half, and neither team had one.
The Devils went 21-17-3 at the Prudential Center, a 51.2% home win rate over 41 games. The Avalanche went 29-7-5 on the road: 7 regulation losses and 5 after regulation, so 12 losses in 41, a 29.3% road loss rate. The midpoint is 40.2% for New Jersey and 59.8% for Colorado, a gap of 8.7 points to the price.
The margin is the extra a book builds into both prices so the pair comes to more than 100%. At -105 and -115 they come to 104.7%. Taken out, the Devils are 48.9% and the Avalanche 51.1%.
Every input is from 2025-26: 41 New Jersey home games and 41 Colorado road games. This season has started for both and none of it is in the figures. The Avalanche are 5-2-1 and beat Pittsburgh 5-2 at home on Friday. They play in Philadelphia on Monday night, so Tuesday is the second game of a back-to-back. The Devils are 4-4-0, 3-2-0 at home, and lost 4-2 in Washington on Saturday.
New Jersey at home, Colorado on the road
The Devils at home scored 2.95 a game and allowed 3.02, a deficit of 0.07. The Avalanche on the road scored 3.54 and allowed 2.32, a surplus of 1.22.
The halves the method leaves out: New Jersey on the road went 21-20-0, a 51.2% win rate, scoring 2.66 and allowing 3.17. Colorado at home went 26-9-6, 63.4%, scoring 3.83 and allowing 2.63. The Avalanche won a larger share of their games away from home than in their own arena.
Over the full season these two finished 34 points apart. Colorado went 55-16-11 with 121 points and outscored opponents by 99, then swept Los Angeles 4-0 and beat Minnesota 4-1 in the playoffs before Vegas swept them 4-0. New Jersey went 42-37-3 with 87 points, was outscored by 24, and missed the playoffs.
The Devils’ record leans on close games. They went 20-8-3 in one-goal games and won 13 of the 16 that went past regulation. Colorado went 14-4-11 in one-goal games and won 7 of its 18 past 60 minutes. Where the Avalanche pulled clear was the bigger margins: they won by two goals or more in 41 of 82 games, the Devils in 22.
The teams split their two meetings in 2025-26. The Devils’ 4-3 overtime win at the Prudential Center on 26 October is in both halves of our number. Colorado’s 8-4 win at home on 28 October is in neither.
Pick: Avalanche -115
Bet the Avalanche on the moneyline at -115. The gap is 8.7 points toward Colorado, against a threshold of 5.
The line read Devils -105 and Avalanche -115 on 19 October 2026 at 22:14 UTC, DraftKings via ESPN, unchanged from where it opened.
What kills the bet
A shorter Colorado price. At -121 or longer the Avalanche are a bet whatever New Jersey is priced at.
For the Devils to become the bet, they would have to be +185 or longer. They are -105.
The real risk is the schedule. Colorado plays in Philadelphia the night before, and teams often change goalies on the second night of a back-to-back. Mackenzie Blackwood has played six of the Avalanche’s games this season and Scott Wedgewood two. New Jersey has used Jake Allen in five and Nico Daws in three. ESPN does not name a starter for Tuesday, and no goalie is on either team’s injury list.
Colorado lists Logan O’Connor and Georgii Merkulov on injured reserve, and Zachary L’Heureux and Nicolas Roy as out. New Jersey lists Anthony Mantha as day-to-day with an illness, and Connor Brown, Nick Bjugstad and Seamus Casey on injured reserve. Check the lineups before you bet.
The total and the puck line
The total is 6.5, over +105 and under -125. The Devils’ games went over 6.5 in 35 of 82, the Avalanche’s in 32 of 82. New Jersey’s home games averaged 5.97 goals, Colorado’s road games 5.86.
That is 42.7% and 39.0%, an average of 40.9% for the over. With the margin removed the over is priced at 46.8% and the under at 53.2%, so our number leans to the under by 5.9 points. Our method stakes the moneyline only, so this is a lean: Under 6.5 at -125.
The puck line has New Jersey at -1.5 for +215 and Colorado at +1.5 for -265, which is 30.4% and 69.6% without the margin. Over the full season the Devils won by two goals or more in 22 of 82 games, and the Avalanche lost by two or more in only 12 of 82. Averaged, Devils -1.5 lands 20.7% of the time against 30.4% priced, 9.7 points short. That is a lean to Avalanche +1.5 at -265, a heavy price. One bet on this game: the Avalanche at -115.
Avalanche at Devils, Tuesday 20 October, 7:00 PM ET, Prudential Center. Prices: DraftKings via ESPN, read 19 October 2026, 22:14 UTC. Results: ESPN, 2025-26 regular season and playoffs; 2026-27 games from ESPN’s team schedules, read 19 October 2026. Injury list and goalie appearances this season: ESPN’s game page, read 19 October 2026, 22:15 UTC.