Online Betting Overview
Sustained success throughout an entire NHL season is extremely difficult. Even the best teams go into slumps or start dropping games because key players are out with injuries. But the difference between decent teams and champions is that the champions find ways to keep on winning despite all of the problems. It looks like the Dallas Stars are at least a decent team this year. After a great start, the Stars kind of limped into the All-Star break and dropped a few places in the standings. But the Stars have shown that it has the players it needs to climb back towards the top of the Pacific Division. It is just a matter of getting that winning groove back.
The plight of the Anaheim Ducks has kind of been lost with all of the Super Bowl betting hoopla as of late, but things are not going well in Anaheim. The Ducks were not a very good team to begin with and relied heavily on goaltender Jonas Hiller to steal wins for the team. When the season started, Hiller wasn’t stealing anything. Then the Ducks decided to fire its head coach and bring in Bruce Boudreau three days after Boudreau had been fired by the Washington Capitals. It seemed like a great move at first, but now Anaheim is starting to find out why Boudreau was made the fall guy in Washington. As the Capitals move up the Eastern Conference standings without Boudreau, the Ducks continue to drop in the Western Conference standings.
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars have hit a really rough patch as of late and were 4-5-1 in the 10 games leading up to the All-Star break. Even though the Stars are 11-12-0 on the road, the price per head bookie experts still do not seem concerned about Dallas’ ability to make the playoffs this season. The area where the Stars need to improve is defense. The Stars have scored 126 goals this season, but it has allowed 136. It cannot all be blamed on goaltender Kari Lehtonen as the Dallas defense has a really bad habit of leaving Lehtonen on his own much of the game. But Lehtonen still stands strong for his team and the Stars need to find that scoring touch again if it wants to start winning games. Lehtonen is 1-4-0 in his last five starts, but he only allowed a total of nine goals in those four loses. In one of those loses, Lehtonen only allowed one goal.
Anaheim Ducks
It would make sense that a team like Dallas, that is having problems playing defense and scoring goals right now, would be a great match for any team in need of a win. But things have not been that easy for the Ducks. On the plus side, sportsbook reviews of the Ducks’ last 10 games show an 8-1-1 record. The Ducks will have to climb high and fast if it wants to make the playoffs. But the team has just not shown the consistency needed to win big games.
The Bottom Line
The NHL fans in Anaheim know that the Ducks are more effective at home. But even with an 8-1-1 run leading up to the All-Star break, the Ducks just cannot count on getting the performances it needs from key players.
Pick: Dallas Stars
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