Ice Hockey | Tuesday, May 23, 2023 7:49 AM (Revised at: Tuesday, May 23, 2023 9:03 AM)

Dallas Stars vs Vegas Golden Knights Best Bet: Stars Return Home Down 2-0

IMAGO / Larry MacDougal

US Sports Expert

Dallas Stars vs Vegas Golden Knights Best Bet: Tuesday, May 23rd

The Dallas Stars find themselves down 0 games to 2 in the Western Conference Finals, as the Knights have squeezed out a pair of overtime wins at home to launch the series. Looking to take command as the Florida Panthers did on Monday night against Carolina, a 3 – 0 series lead would put the Stars behind the 8-ball.

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Dallas Stars vs Vegas Golden Knights Preview

May 24, 01:07 (UK time)

The Vegas Golden Knights hit the road for Games 3 & 4 up 2 games to love in the Western Conference Finals, and they’ll have their foot on the gas to repeat what the Panthers did last night. While Florida has taken a commanding 3 – 0 series lead, coming back from a 3- 0 deficit in the Conference Finals is close to impossible, and let’s be clear that it has never been done in the history of the NHL!

Only four teams have ever come back to erase a 3 – 0 deficit in the playoffs, but three of those comebacks were in the opening round and the other was in the 1942 Stanley Cup Finals. While that puts Carolina in a precarious position, the Stars are counting on home ice to come in handy for a couple of nights.

If you haven’t noticed it yet, all four of these last remaining teams are turning their attention to the defensive side of the puck, because everyone knows that scoring comes at a premium when we are at this point of the campaign. I cannot even begin to relate to the tired legs happening around camp because the playoffs are a different animal for so many reasons.

First of all, these guys are playing every other day now, and there is no rest for the weary at this point of the season. The regular season schedule was filled with days off, sometimes as many as five days off here and there, so when you hear the announcers say they are playing on tired legs, it’s because they are!

Dallas can at least not have their heads down because losing in overtime doesn’t mean you were totally outplayed, it just means the other team sealed the deal before you could. Dallas and Vegas have been extremely disciplined not allowing odd-man opportunities, which means we are 5-on-5 hockey for most of these games. Each team has only allowed 1 power-play goal in the series, and the shot count was drastically reduced after the 73 shots from Game 1, to 52 in Game 2.

Blocked shots are up and great goaltending is happening all over the ice for all 4 of these remaining teams. Jake Oettinger has been outplayed by Adin Hill, which is amazing considering that Hill really hadn’t produced wins until he got to Vegas. Hill was a .500 netminder over the first five years of his career, and all of a sudden he is carrying a team potentially to the Stanley Cup Finals.