The Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche meet in Game 2 of the best-of-seven Western Conference Semifinals Monday at 9:45 p.m. ET at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB, Canada. 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 Saturday. The Avs are the home team in Monday’s contest; it’s a neutral-site affair, but Colorado will have last change on faceoffs.
Stars vs. Avalanche: Projected starting goalies
Anton Khudobin vs. Pavel Francouz
In round one, Khudobin stepped in for regular starting G Ben Bishop who was deemed unfit to play. The 34-year-old Russian netminder helped the Stars to a 4-2 series win over the Calgary Flames. He logged a 2.52 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage in the series. 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.
Francouz steps in for G Philipp Grubauer (ruled out of Game 2 with an apparent leg injury). Francouz is a 29-year-old playing his first full season in the league. During the regular season, he logged a 2.42 GAA and .923 SV in 34 games (30 starts). He has clocked a .941 SV over 152 postseason minutes; that includes a 27-of-27 performance in a round-robin shutout of the Stars Aug. 5, and an 8-of-10 game Saturday night.
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Stars vs. Avalanche: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Monday at 8:20 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Colorado 3, Dallas 2
Moneyline (ML)
With the goaltending situation, Avalanche bettors are getting a more tenable price in Game 2. The Avs offense (fourth in goals during the regular season and a robust 3.88 goals per game in postseason prior to Saturday) gets a lot of attention, but it’s the defense that had an off night in Game 1. Figure on some regression to the mean and better night for the Avs power play, which was scoreless in just one opportunity on Saturday. The regular season is fading in the rearview mirror, but the Stars had all kinds of trouble in one-day-rest situations (14-17, goal differential of -.67) while the Avalanche thrived (27-10, +.96). BACK COLORADO -162.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Avalanche to win would return a profit of $6.17.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
A try at middling this one is tempting. A game Stars team and a shade on the Under (see below) make for a play on the underdog plus one-and-a-half goals becoming a win-win in a one-goal Avs win. Consider taking DALLAS +1.5 (-193).
Over/Under (O/U)
Figure on things being a bit tighter in Game 2. But the lean isn’t enough to generate a play on the OVER 5.5 (-106)/UNDER 5.5 (-115) pricing.
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