Stars vs Avs NHL Spread/Handicapping
Headline: Struggling Stars In Colorado to Take On Surging Avs
The Dallas Stars head out on the road Monday night to take on the Colorado Avalanche in what is a fairly light night on the NHL’s abbreviated schedule. The Avalanche have yet to taste defeat in their three games on home ice so far in this young season while the Stars have been absolutely dreadful on the road losing five straight away from home and having been shut out twice already this year away from American Airlines Center.
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Dallas Stars (3-5-1-0) at Colorado Avalanche (4-4-0-0)
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, February 4, 2013
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Broadcast: TSN, NBCSN
Stars vs. Avalanche Betting Lines from betonline.com
Dallas Stars +1½ -250 +123 Ov 5 -126
Colorado Avalanche -1½ +210 -135 Un 5 +114
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Lack of goal scoring, injuries and penalty trouble shave been common themes in Dallas early in the season and is the reason that the team has gone just 1-4 on the road so far. The Stars have scored just six times on the road in five games and the team as a whole is averaging just 1.78 goals per game.
One possible excuse for a power outage going forward is the loss of top point’s producer Ray Whitney who will be out of Dallas’s lineup four weeks after breaking his foot. The Stars did get Jamie Benn back in the fold last week but is taking some time to get back in game shape – he has just one assist in his four games but should compensate for Whitney’s absence eventually.
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Kari Lehtonen will likely get the start in goal Monday but he will need some help. The team has already endured 51 shorthanded opportunities against. Lehtonen is 3-2-1 so far with a 2.62 goals against average and a very respectable .924 save percentage. Lehtonen has also been sharp in Colorado throughout his career, going 3-1-0 with a 1.76 GAA in four starts there.
The Colorado Avalanche have been hot and cold so far this young season but are on a hot streak at present despite a rash of injuries. Defenseman Ryan Wilson went down Saturday while Steve Downie (ACL), Gabriel Landeskog (head, leg) and David Jones (knee). Downie and Landeskog are out for an extended period, while Jones is day-to-day. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
That’s the bad news – now for the good! Colorado has won all three games at home this season outscoring their opponents 10-2 and the offense has been stellar as of late – P.A. Parenteau and Paul Stastny have combined for six goals in the last two games while Parenteau has four goals and an assist in his last five overall.
The Avs are a different team on home ice and enter Monday’s game riding a two-game win streak. Some production on the power play would be nice however especially against a Dallas team that has shown a propensity for the minor penalty – The Avalanche are just 2-for-27 (7.4 percent) on the power play this season.
Defensively, the Avalanche remain middle of the pack but won’t have a whole lot to worry about with Dallas’s anemic offense coming to town. The Avs allow 2.50 goals per game and likely starter Seymon Varlamov is 3-4-0 on the season with a 2.41 GAA and .919 save percentage.
Betting Prediction:
A few trends to consider
• DAL are 1-7 in their last 8 road games.
• Under is 15-5-1 in DAL last 21 road games.
• Under is 6-2 in DAL last 8 overall.
• Under is 5-1-3 in COL last 9 vs. Pacific.
• Under is 5-2-2 in COL last 9 home games.
• Under is 7-3-1 in COL last 11 Mon. games.
• DAL are 3-7 in the last 10 meetings in Colorado.
Monday night marks Milan Hejduk’s 1000th game in the NHL – all with Colorado. It should give Hejduk himself a little spark which should trickle down to the rest of the team. Dallas has been awful on the road – Colorado has been superb at home. It all adds up to a pretty easy win for the confident Avalanche on Monday night.
Pick: Colorado Avalanche -135
