The Dallas Stars fired coach Jim Montgomery earlier this season for rather vague reasons, but the team hasn’t let it affect its play as the Stars are in the race to win the Central Division and enter Wednesday’s game at the Kings on a four-game winning streak. Dallas is a slight favorite on the Mybookie NHL odds.
How to Bet Stars vs Kings 2020 NHL Spread & Game Info
- When: Wednesday, 10 PM ET
- Where: Staples Center
- TV: NBC Sports Network
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- Radio: SiriusXM
- NHL Spread: Dallas Stars -1.5 (Total 5)
Stars vs Kings Last Meeting
First meeting this year. The Stars visited the Kings once last season and won 4-3 in overtime. Roope Hintz’s goal 3:19 into overtime was the winner. Hintz scored in a mad scramble in front of the net after Alexander Radulov’s shot bounced off Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick.Dallas trailed 3-2 after two periods, but Radek Faksa tied it at 9:53 of the third. L.A. also led 2-0 in the first period. Tyler Seguin and Mattias Janmark had Dallas’ other goal. Anton Khudobin made 27 saves. Anze Kopitar scored two goals and had an assist for Los Angeles.
Why Bet on Dallas?
The Stars have been off since Friday when they won a fourth straight game 4-1 over Detroit. Joe Pavelski was the No. 1 star with a goal and an assist to snap a four-game scoreless drought. It was his first multi-point showing since Nov. 14 in Vancouver.Roope Hintz had a short-handed goal with an assist. He is working on a four-game point streak, posting two goals and five points with a plus-3 rating. It was his first multi-point effort since he lit the lamp twice in Colorado on Nov. 1. Andrej Sekera also had a shorthanded goal and Esa Lindell three assists. Lindell entered the game with two goals and 11 assists across his first 41 games, and this was his first multi-point effort in a regular-season game since April 2 last season against Philadelphia.
Anton Khudobin stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced. Khudobin improved to 10-5-1 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .931 save percentage. Probably be Ben Bishop in this one, however.
The Stars have rallied to win four consecutive games for the fourth time in franchise history, also accomplishing the feat twice during the 2005-06 season and once during the 2007-08 season.
Defenseman Roman Polak (illness) is expected to play on Wednesday night. Polak didn’t take part in Tuesday’s practice, but he should be available to play versus Los Angeles. He has four assists in 22 games this season, while piling up 57 hits and 60 blocks. Not clear if winger John Klingenberg will play after sitting the last game with a lower-body injury. He didn’t practice either Monday or Tuesday this week so not looking good.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.74
- Shots: 30.69
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.03
Defense
- Goals: 2.48
- Shots: 31.79
- PP/PK Percentage: 15.75
Why Bet on Los Angeles?
The Kings dropped their second in a row Monday, 4-2 at home to Columbus. The Kings are 2-5-1 in their last eight games and “have to play an A game to win right now,” coach Todd McLellan said.The Blue Jackets scored twice 3:47 apart in the second period to go ahead. Sean Walker tallied a goal and an assist for the Kings. Walker picked up the primary assist on the first goal of the night, scored by Alex Iafallo just 1:26 into the game. Later in third, Walker scored a goal of his own to help bring the Kings within one. After this performance, Walker now has five goals and 13 assists for a total of 18 points.
Iafallo, meanwhile, is now riding a seven-game point streak and he’s scored in three consecutive contests. Iafallo has nine goals and 24 points in 44 games this season. Jonathan Quick made 20 saves to fall to 11-16-2. Quick now has tied Anaheim’s John Gibson for the most losses in the league so far this season.
With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 6-7-3 against the Eastern Conference, 3-3-2 against the Metropolitan Division, 9-8-4 in one-goal games, 14-6-3 when scoring the first goal, 12-3-1 when leading after one period, 1-21-1 when trailing after two periods and 11-18-2 when outshooting their opponent.
Monday did see the returns of Kings veterans Dustin Brown (who had missed the previous four games with pneumonia), Trevor Lewis (out since Dec. 23 with a lower-body injury) and Derek Forbort (who made his long-awaited season debut after an offseason back injury).
Top defenseman Drew Doughty is 2 points from surpassing Rob Blake (494) for most points all-time among defensemen in Kings history and 2 points from surpassing Blake for ninth-most points all-time in Kings history.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.55
- Shots: 33.61
- PP/PK Percentage: 14.93
Defense
- Goals: 3.18
- Shots: 28.36
- PP/PK Percentage: 25.19
Stars vs Kings 2020 NHL Betting Trends
- Road team is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings
- Underdog is 11-4 in the last 15 meetings
- Stars are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games against Los Angeles
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Dallas’ last 5 games on the road
- Kings are 2-6 SU in their last 8 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Los Angeles’ last 8 games at home
