Dallas & DeBoer Catch Breath Before Facing High-Powered Colorado
Read on for our Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars Betting Preview
The Colorado Avalanche (4-1) disposed of the Winnipeg Jets a week ago, allowing them to watch the Dallas Stars (4-3) grind out a seven-game win against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Avalanche have won five of their last six games, while the Stars have won 16 of their previous 21 games. Colorado has won four of five games head-to-head, but Dallas won their recent meeting, 7-4, in early April.
Opening NHL betting lines have made the Stars a -115 series favorite with a game total of 5.5 (over -192). Jared Bednar’s team has history on their side after improving on a 45-24 (+7.13 units) playoff record since 2019 (3rd in the NHL).
Dallas has produced the same 7.13 units in that time but behind a less impressive 39-34 record. The game one puck is scheduled to drop on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT and can be seen on ESPN. Let’s start our Stars vs Avalanche betting preview.
Stars vs Avalanche 
Day/Time:
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Streaming: ESPN
Avalanche Hope To Use Rest To Their Advantage
After a game one loss to the Winnipeg Jets, bettors could see that the Avalanche were going to make some adjustments that would ground the Jets, and there was very little Winnipeg could do about it.
The room on the ice for the Jets was non-existent because of an aggressive Colorado forecheck. There’s nothing better for a team that wants to press their opponents than rest, and Colorado has had plenty of it.
For bettors, the handicap won’t be that easy because if you’ve watched this sport for as long as we have, it’s usually prudent to wager on the team who just finished off a long series.
After all, they’re in a groove playing at a high level, while Colorado has had a chance to exhale after winning their series in five.
The problem for the Avalanche comes with their ability to match the Stars’ depth. We know that the first line of Nathan Mackinnon (two goals, seven assists), Valeri Nichushkin (7/0/7), and Mikko Rantanen (2/7/9) is as good as anyone in the NHL, but can the bottom nine produce enough against a balanced attack in Dallas?
There has been better production from the second line led by Artturi Lehkonen (5/3/8) who had just 16 goals in the regular season. Colorado is the NHL postseason stat leader in goals per game with 5.60 per game.
Stars Need To Move On From Emotional Series
The Dallas Stars knocked out the defending champions and nothing was sweeter for head coach Pete DeBoer who the Golden Knights fired after the 2022 season.
Vegas eventually won a cup while DeBoer moved on to the second round this NHL season. The speed and physicality of the series were noticeably more intense than the rest of the first-round match-ups, leaving us to wonder how they will find a way to crank up the intensity against the fresher Avs.
DeBoer hasn’t won a Stanley Cup but the Stars’ defensive gameplan was good enough to push Dallas into the final if they can maintain the same attention to detail that they had in the final five NHL games against Vegas, with game seven being their best performance after blocking more shots (24) than shots allowed (23).
They managed to turn the tables on Vegas who were the more physical club to start the series, but in the end, Dallas owned the final physical advantage with 49 hits against the Knights 37.
Round One Speed To Help Dallas
The numbers on early betting patterns haven’t emerged yet, but we’re guessing the public will be on Colorado to win the series and game one.
We think those bettors will eventually rip up their tickets because if Colorado is to win the series it will be because the MacKinnon line willed them over the finish line.
Great line full of stars but which NHL team has more depth, clearly that’s the Dallas Stars who feature two 25-goal scorers on the third line in Matt Duchene (25/40/65) and Tyler Seguin (25/27/52).
We think the Stars have an additional advantage between the pipes with Alexander Georgiev (4-1) owning a 3.30 goals-against average to go with a .893 save percentage through five playoff games.
Oettinger is 4-1 with a 1.52 goals against average with a .946 save percentage after his game-one loss. The Vegas Golden Knights have prepared the Stars for Colorado’s skill and speed more than the Jets did for the Avs in their short series, which should show up in game one.
We think the NHL playoff odds for this match-up are as expected, but it’s the Dallas depth, aggressive forecheck, and willingness to block shots that will push them on to the third round after another seven-game win.
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