NHL Hockey Betting: Ottawa Senators at Dallas Stars
Very short card in the NHL for Tuesday night as US based fans get ready for the Thanksgiving Holiday (Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the same day that US residents ‘celebrate’ Columbus Day). Only two games on the board tonight and we’ll look at the top of the table as the Ottawa Senators travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Stars. The Stars were expected to be a good team this season but they’ve greatly exceeded expectations to the point that they’re considered one of the best stories of the early part of the NHL season. Dallas enters tonight’s action with a record of 17-4-0 for 34 points. That ties them for the best point total in the league along with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. The offense has been as good as advertised but the big news is that the defense is holding up pretty well–they’re currently the #7 scoring defense in the NHL. They’re in a virtual tie with the Montreal Canadiens for the top scoring offense in the league averaging a fraction over 3.5 goals per game.
Ottawa has been playing reasonably well–they’ve won two straight and 7 of their last 12. Their last two games might represent their most complete effort of the season–they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers by a combined score of 7-0. Craig Anderson has been very solid in net over the past week or so–in his last four starts he’s got a 2-1-1 record and has allowed just four goals with two shutouts. That’s a solid run but nothing like what the Stars have been doing–they’ve won five straight and eight of their last ten games. They’ve also won four straight against the Senators–two at home and two on the road. For what it’s worth, the Senators have been very good on the road this season with a 5-2-1 record.
Dallas has absolutely brutalized the Eastern Conference this season (11-3) and enter this game with no real distractions at hand. This will be their last action before the Thanksgiving holiday and they don’t play again until Friday night. They host Vancouver on Friday to begin a tough stretch of games against Western Conference opponents with four of the next five on the road. Not that this has been an issue for Dallas–they’ve got essentially the same record at home (8-2) as on the road (9-2). We like what Ottawa is doing and its nice to see Craig Anderson enjoying a career rennaissance. But until they give us reason to do otherwise we’d rather be *on* the Dallas Stars freight train and not in front of it.
BET DALLAS STARS -180 OVER OTTAWA SENATORS