Ice Hockey | Monday, November 21, 2022 9:34 AM

Dallas Stars vs Colorado Avalanche Best Bet: A Top-3 Central Division Battle

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US Sports Expert

Dallas Stars vs Colorado Avalanche Best Bet: Monday, November 21st

A pair of Central Division foes square off on Monday night, as two of the top 3 teams in the standings sit just 3 points apart entering the game. The defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche enter the week with 21 points behind first-place Dallas, with the Stars sitting atop the Central Division table leading the Western Conference in scoring. Our resident pucks pundit needs to rebound from a rough last week, so he is turning to the total on Monday night in Dallas.

In this article:

Dallas Stars vs Colorado Avalanche Preview

November 21st, 01:30 (UK time)

The puck will drop for 10 games being played around the NHL tonight, and the one that stood out to me right away was the affair in Dallas tonight. Scoring much? Dallas is pouring pucks into the nets this campaign to the tune of leading the conference with 71 goals, as only the Boston Bruins (75) have found more success this year.

The Stars have played 7 home games in 2022, and I will let you do the math from their 28 goals scored in this building. That 4 goals average at home puts them among the best in the league, and their 3.9 Goals-per game overall is good enough to be ranked 2nd in the entire NHL. The Avalanche only give up 2.5 goals a night, which ranks them 5th in the league. That means some things gotta give tonight!

Sam Girard, Kurtis MacDermid, and Bowen Bryan take 3 Avalanche defenders out of the mix, and the trio could all be out another month on the Avs’ back line. Val Nichushkin is also expected to be out of commission for the same duration, and Gabe Landeskog won’t be back until next year.

The Stars fans (and me in this case), will be hoping that Roope Hintz can go tonight after being a late scratch against the Islanders. Hintz has a 10–game point-scoring streak in tow should he return tonight (Lower Body injury).

Jason Robertson stretched his career-high points streak to 11 games with his goal that made it 4 – 2 in the win over the Islanders last time out, 5 – 2. Robertson stole the team leads in points with the tally as he is up to 15 a point ahead of Hintz who has 14 points that included a birthday brace!

Dallas is in the midst of a 4 game home stand that will wrap up with Winnipeg on the 25th, and oh, lookie there! The Stars will hit the road after this road trip and their first stop will be in Denver to take on these Avs again. Unfortunately for the Stars, there will be no rest to prepare for Colorado because they play them the night after the Winnipeg game on the 26th.

Tyler Seguin was quoted after the Isles game stating, “Missing a few guys, missing probably our best player in Roope [Hintz], some guys having long days, and some guys sick, it was just a weird day coming off a long road trip.” It was 2 – 1 going to the 3rd period and the Stars battled to find 3 goals in the 3rd period to secure the win.

You know, it is amazing that Nate MacKinnon is leading the Avalanche in scoring, right? No silly, not for the sole reason that he is leading the team in points, it’s how he is doing it. MacKinnon has only scored 5 goals this campaign, and with 26 points that tells you where is doing the most damage. His mindset is starting to turn to ‘So, you want to come and double me up, maybe make my life harder? Okay, here, let me make everyone around me better and dish out some love.