Dallas Stars at Washington Capitals Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: Dallas +250 / Washington -300 O/U 6.5 goals
Time: 7 PM EST Monday March 8, 2010 on Versus
Tonight in the nation's capital the Washington Capitals host the Dallas Stars. These teams are not only in different conferences, but are having very different seasons as well. The Caps have the best record and best home record in the league and have won 3 straight. One the other hand the Stars are in the 11th position in the West 6 games back of the 8th place Detroit Red Wings and they have lost 3 straight.
This season the Capitals are 25-3-3 at home and the Stars are 10-16-7 on the road.
In their last games Washington blanked the New York Rangers 2-0 on Saturday and Dallas was blown out by Pittsburgh losing 6-3 also on Saturday.
The Capitals have won 13 straight games at home.
In their 3-game losing streak the Stars' defense has really struggled allowing 17 goals and their offense is not helping only scoring 5 in that span. That is not good facing a Washington offense that is leading the league in scoring (3.89 goals per game).
Even though the Caps offense is the best in the NHL the Capitals' main line of Alex Ovechkin, who leads the league in points (90) and is 2nd in goals (42), and Nicklas Backstrom (26 goals 51 points) have been struggling. Ovechkin has not scoring 6 games and Backstrom has not scored in 5.
Marty Turco (19 wins 2.75 GAA save percentage 91%) will be in between the pipes for Dallas tonight and he is not playing well as of late only stopping 24 of 33 shots in 2 starts since the Olympics. However he is 3-0-1 with a 2.31 GAA in 5 career games against the Capitals.
Dallas' offense is not playing well, but they have been solid this season ranking 10th in the league in scoring (2.75 goals per game).
Dallas will be facing a hot goalie in Washington's Jose Theodore (22 wins 2.79 GAA save percentage 91%), who has stopped 53 of 54 shots in 2 starts since the Olympics and has been in goal for 7 games during the Caps' 13-game home winning streak with a 1.99 GAA.
The Dallas big guns of Loui Eriksson, who leads the Stars in goals (25), and Brad Richards, who leads the Stars in assists (52), have to kick-start the Dallas offense, especially if their defense continues to give up goals in bunches.
Dallas is 6-20 in their last 26 road games and has an Under record of 6-2 in their last 8 road games against teams with a home winning percentage of greater than 60%.
Washington is 4-1 in their last 5 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game and has an Over record of 7-2 in their last 9 games.
In 6 of the last 7 games between these 2 teams the total has gone Over.
Our Selection : These are 2 teams going in different directions, The Capitals have won 13 straight games at home. Dallas has lost 3 straight and during that streak the Star's defense has really struggled allowing 17 goals and their offense is not helping only scoring 5 in that span. That is not good facing a Washington offense that is leading the league in scoring (3.89 goals per game). Take Washington -1.5 goals.
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.