The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars continue their Western Conference Round 2 series when they meet in Game 3 Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET at Rogers Place in Edmonton. We analyze the Stars-Avalanche NHL betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
The Stars took Game 1 with a 5-3 victory and Game 2 with a 5-2 win. They are the home team in Wednesday’s contest; it’s a neutral-site affair, but Dallas will have last change on faceoffs.
Avalanche vs. Stars: Projected starting goalies
Pavel Francouz vs. Anton Khudobin
Francouz is in for G Philipp Grubauer who is out for the rest of the playoffs due to a groin injury. Francouz is a 30-year-old playing his first full season in the league. During the regular season, he logged a 2.41 goals against average and .923 save percentage in 34 games (30 starts). His series against the Stars thus far has not gone well. He was spotted a two-goal lead before yielding four straight goals in the second period of Monday’s contest. He has been tagged for six goals on 46 shots over 90 minutes.
In the regular season, Khudobin posted a 2.22 GAA and .930 SV%. He plays behind a stout Dallas defense that does credible work in slowing down foes in the neutral zone and mitigating the number of dangerous scoring chances in and around the slot. Khudobin was impressive in shutting down a desperate Avs squad once Dallas had wrestled away the lead in Game 2.
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Avalanche vs. Stars: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 8 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Colorado 3, Dallas 2
Moneyline (ML)
The AVALANCHE (-143) have been snowed under by injuries in this series. Grubauer is out between the pipes. D Erik Johnson (knee) is out, and that’s a productive 21-minute-per-game slot on the blue line. LW Matt Calvert (undisclosed) — a 25-point and plus-13 guy — is questionable. The replacements of those first two injuries have been disappointments so far, and the betting lines now shift to reflect that.
Even so, the postseason and game-by-game analytics are still bullish on the Avs. BACK COLORADO (-143) and return a tidy value on the Avs getting back in this series.
New to sports betting? A winning $10 bet on the Avalanche would return a profit of $6.99.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
If a week ago you’d have bet a prop on one of these teams scoring five goals in each of the first two games, you would have gotten a tremendous price on Dallas.
There isn’t a tremendous lean toward a high score here, but the price — COLORADO -1.5 (+190) — is too attractive to not consider.
Over/Under (O/U)
This is Stanley Cup Playoffs hockey, and the total in a game like this gets very muddy. NO PLAY ON THE OVER 5.5 (-110)/UNDER 5.5 (-110).
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