COL @ WPG

WPG +1.5 at -162 is a fair price for a Jets team that has shown early-season resilience and hosts a Colorado squad missing three forwards. The puck line cushion is the play — COL winning by exactly one is a real outcome that kills the -1.5.

WPG is 2-1 with wins in Pittsburgh and Detroit, showing they can perform on the road and at home. Colorado arrives missing Merkulov, L'Heureux, and O'Connor — three forwards on IR — which compresses their forward depth and limits line-matching flexibility. The Jets' home crowd and a defense that held Boston to a one-goal margin (OT loss) suggest they can keep this within one. At +1.5, WPG wins outright or loses by one and still cashes. That's a wide net against a depleted COL roster.

Colorado is 2-0 to open the season with wins over STL and LA, carrying genuine offensive momentum. Even with three forwards on IR, the Avalanche's top-end talent can carry a short-handed lineup against a Jets team that dropped its most recent home game to Boston. WPG's OT loss shows they can be vulnerable late, and COL's puck-possession structure tends to generate multi-goal margins when their top line is clicking. A two-goal COL win is a plausible outcome that busts the +1.5.

COL is 2-0 in L2; WPG is 2-1 in L3 with one OT loss. No scoring averages or goalie SV% are available in context. COL carries three IR forwards into this game.

COL missing Merkulov (C), L'Heureux (LW), and O'Connor (RW) — three forward-position IR slots — meaningfully thins their depth. WPG missing Brown (C), Duehr (RW), and Salomonsson (D). No back-to-back flags for either team. No starting goalies listed.

COL -1.5 at +136 implies roughly 42% cover probability. The market is pricing this closer to a coin flip on the puck line, which makes WPG +1.5 at -162 the structurally safer side.