The Dallas Stars found ways to hold leads against the Seattle Kraken, and that made a huge difference in their Western Conference semifinal series. The Stars have not found a way to do that against Vegas yet in this series, despite going the entire regular season without losing to the Golden Knights. In Game 2, Dallas let Vegas come back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, as Jonathan Marchessault scored with 2:22 left in regulation to tie the game. Chandler Stephenson only needed 1:12 of overtime to score, giving the Stars an 0-4 record in these playoffs after going just 8-0-14 in overtime during the regular season. There is a degree of mental toughness that goes into holding (or perhaps even building) leads, and another degree of mental toughness that goes into prevailing in overtime, and the Stars are not there yet. The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Tuesday night; check out our NHL betting insights on this game before you lock in your wagers.
NHL Betting Preview: Western Conference Finals, Game 3: Vegas Golden Knights at Dallas Stars
Golden Knights lead, 2-0
When: Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 8:00 pm ET
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas
TV: TNT
Radio: No National Broadcast
Live Stream: ESPN+
NHL Odds: Vegas +120 / Dallas -145 / O/U 5.5
Why should you bet on the Golden Knights?
The Golden Knights have not had much trouble solving the Dallas defense through two games, posting a combined seven goals. Chandler Stephensson and Mark stone have combined for a pair of goals and four assists, while Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden and William Karlsson have added four goals and an assist.
On defense, the Golden Knights have permitted just five goals in the series, led at the blue line by Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo. Nicolas Hague, Brayden McNabb and Zach Whitecloud have all done their part on the back end, creating turnovers and getting down to block shots. Adin Hill had no playoff experience coming into this season, but the young netminder is 5-1 in these playoffs, with five straight wins and a 2.28 GAA. Ironically, he’s doing to the Stars what Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin did in 2020 to Vegas, coming in from a backup role to stand on his head in a conference final series.
Bet on the Golden Knights!
Why should you put your money on the Stars?
The Stars had no trouble finding offense in the first two rounds of the postseason, and they also were able to light the lamp against Vegas in the regular season, so the Golden Knights’ scheme should, at some point, stop mystifying the Dallas scorers. Jason Robertson continues to underperform after a terrific regular season in terms of goal scoring. Captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin continue to let others do the scoring for them, with just one goal between them in this series.
Dallas’ defense has been strong at points, especially with the play of Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell. However, the Stars’ defense is letting Vegas get too many open looks at the net, and as a result, goalie Jake Oettinger has permitted seven goals on just 61 shots. Oettinger has made a habit of shutting opponents down when the series shifts to the American Airlines Center, and I expect that to happen again on Tuesday.
Bet on the Stars!
Final Score and Prediction
Dallas is a young team learning its way in these playoffs, and one problem that offensively prolific youngsters encounter is the pressure that can build from one series to the next. As long as the Stars take a collective deep breath and remember the team hockey that got them to this point, they should be able to get the series going back in the right direction. I predict a final score of Dallas 3, Vegas 2.
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