Nothing against the Avalanche. They just might be the first or second best team in hockey. But I want the Golden Knights going for me at this value price in this showdown matchup with the West Division title likely at stake.

Las Vegas is 14-2 in its last 16 games. The Golden Knights are riding a seven-game home win streak and would match the Penguins for the best home record in the NHL at 22-4-2 with a victory. 

The Golden Knights consider this their biggest and most important game of the season. So I expect Las Vegas to have Marc-Andre Fleury in goal. He's 4-3 against Colorado this season with a 2.14 goals against average and .932 save percentage. The Golden Knights have won the last eight times Fleury has been in net, never allowing more than two goals during this win streak. 

Las Vegas has been without its leading goal scorer, Max Pacioretty, the past four games. This is more than off-set by the Avalanche possibly being minus their leading points producer, superstar Nathan MacKinnon. He's missed the last two games with a lower-body injury and is a game-time decision. The Golden Knights aren't nearly as reliant on their top scoring line as the Avalanche are when MacKinnon is teamed up with Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. 

(Editor's note: Stephen Nover has his NHL Game of the Month today in addition to this free selection. Stephen is 19-10 on his NHL Games of the Month/Week plays this season for 66 percent. All of Stephen's plays come with a guarantee-to-win and feature his signature, unique in-depth analysis.)