Stars vs. Blues Odds
| Stars Odds | -162 |
| Blues Odds | +134 |
| Over/Under | 6.5 (-102 / -120) |
| Time | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| TV | TNT |
| Odds via FanDuel. Get up-to-the-minute NHL Odds here. | |
After Colorado dropped a point in OT last night, the Stars now sit just one point out of the race for the Central Division crown with each team having two games left to play.
Winning the division would likely offer a nice reward in avoiding a tough No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup and likely getting the Seattle Kraken instead, which is arguably the worst team in the Western playoff bracket.
St. Louis has stabilized over the last month and will be skating at near full health in its last home game of the 2023 regular season Wednesday.
Peculiar Choice in Net for Dallas Stars
While backup Scott Wedgewood has had a quietly strong year, he is not at the same level as Jake Oettinger, and it is a little puzzling to see him get the first leg of this back-to-back situation. If Dallas loses tonight, that would mean tomorrow's contest is far less significant, as at that point Colorado would need to go 0-2 to not claim the division title.
Therefore, you could argue it makes more sense to give Oettinger the tougher leg on the road tonight and evaluate from there.
Regardless, Wedgewood is announced as tonight's starter and has played to a +5.0 GSAx and .916 save % in 20 appearances.
He will likely receive some strong run support. Dallas has been in elite form offensively, generating 3.93 goals for per game over the last 15 outings.
Dallas' top line of Roope Hintz, Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski has still carried the majority of the weight up front, and they will be in an excellent matchup to do damage tonight.
Along with Miro Heiskanen, that trio also drives Dallas' elite power-play unit, which has clicked at 24.6%, and they will match up well with a Blues side with a success rate of just 72.9% on the penalty kill.
Whether or not names like Jamie Benn and Wyatt Johnston will continue to provide such solid depth scoring in the playoffs remains to be seen, but the Stars have become far more of an offensive juggernaut than we have seen in years past.
Even Poor Teams Scoring on St. Louis Blues
With Robert Thomas in the mix, St. Louis is skating at close to full health and will now offer a more insightful glimpse into what could be in store for next season's roster.
The Blues are still offering a very dangerous top three offensive unit, with names such as Jakub Vrana and Jake Neighbours now slotted in down on the third unit with the team at full health up front.
What will likely continue to hold true for the Blues is that they cannot defend particularly well, and the defensive core has consistently put together poor results and struggled both in zone and off the rush.
It is not supported overly well by much in the way of strong two-way play up front from the forward core, and higher-scoring hockey is somewhat of a natural function of the roster composition.
St. Louis has allowed four goals against per game over the last 10 contests, which has come against a below-average slate of opposing offenses.
Jordan Binnington has been a large part of the goal-prevention struggles, but he will sit tonight in favor of Joel Hofer, who has been more respectable with a +0.7 GSAx and .915 save % in five games played.
Stars vs. Blues Pick
What we have continually seen from this Blues roster core is a side that can create extremely dangerous offensive chances – but one that is incapable of defending at a league-average rate while featuring below-average goaltending.
Dallas is in strong offensive form and should be able to break through with four or more goals much of the time in this matchup.
One thing to like in particular about how St. Louis' attacks is the additional east-west passing in the offensive zone relative to an average team, and that makes it less likely to make any goaltending option look better than it should.
There's a good chance both of these teams reach the three-goal mark and cash the over here, but it's also possible we see the Stars blow up a bad defensive side as well.
The -102 line is a good price to back the over, and I would bet it down to -110.
Pick: Stars vs. Blues over 6.5 (-102) |
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