Columbus Blue Jackets (12-8) vs. Dallas Stars (11-7-2)
December 2, 2021 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: Dallas Stars -165 / Columbus Blue Jackets +140; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Columbus Blue Jackets and the Dallas Stars meet in NHL action from the American Airlines Arena on Thursday night.
The Columbus Blue Jackets will be out to bounce back from a 6-0 beatdown loss at the hands of Nashville in their last game. Oliver Bjorkstrand leads Columbus in scoring with 19 points including 6 goals and 13 assists while Jakub Voracek has 18 points with a team-high 17 assists. Zach Werenski has 15 points with 5 goals and 10 assists while Boone Jenner has a team-high 10 goals and Vladislav Gavrikov has a team-best +9 plus/minus rating as well this season. Elvis Merzlikins has gone 9-4 with a 2.61 GAA and a .923 save percentage this season while Joonas Korpisalo is 3-4 with a 3.95 GAA and an .885 save percentage.
The Dallas Stars come into this game looking to add to their five-game winning streak after a 4-1 win over Carolina last time out. Joe Pavelski leads the Stars in scoring with 17 points including 7 goals and 10 assists while Jason Robertson, Miro Heiskanen and Roope Hintz each have 15 points with Hintz logging a team-high 10 goals while Heiskanen has 12 assists to lead the Stars in that department. Braden Holtby’s posted a 4-4-1 record with a 2.30 GAA and a .927 save percentage while Anton Khudobin is 3-3-1 with a 3.73 GAA and an .873 save percentage this season.
Columbus is 15-36 in their last 51 road games and 9-3 in their last 12 games against the Western Conference while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games as a road underdog. Dallas is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall and 6-0 in their last 6 home games while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall.
I get the case that could be made for both sides here, but the Blue Jackets are struggling and the Dallas Stars are not anywhere close to redeeming themselves in my books, I don’t care how many games they win in a row. Instead, I’m siding with the under. This game just reeks of a first to 3 wins kind of feel and I think that’s the way it ends up shaking out. Give me the under.
