The Chicago Blackhawks and the Dallas Stars meet in NHL action from the American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.
The Chicago Blackhawks will be out to snap a four-game losing skid after a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh last time out. Patrick Kane leads Chicago with 14 points coming with a team-high 11 assists while Jonathan Toews has 12 points with a team-high 8 goals. Max Domi also has 12 points with 4 goals and 8 assists as well this season. Petr Mrazek has gone 1-3-1 with a 3.66 GAA and an .889 save percentage while Alex Stalock is 3-2-1 with a 2.93 GAA and a .914 save percentage in goal for Chicago this season.
The Dallas Stars will try to bounce back from a 3-2 shootout loss to Colorado last time out. Jason Robertson has a team-high 29 points and Roope Hintz has 23 points with Hintz logging a team-high 15 assists and Robertson posting a team-high 14 goals and 15 assists while Joe Pavelski also has 9 goals and 21 points this season. Jamie Benn also has 20 points with 8 goals and 12 assists this season. Jake Oettinger’s gone 7-2-2 with a 2.18 GAA and a .929 save percentage while Scott Wedgewood is 4-3-1 with a 3.23 GAA and a .904 save percentage in goal for the Stars so far this season.
Chicago is 17-36 in their last 53 road games and 12-41 in their last 53 division games while the over is 4-0-1 in their last 5 Wednesday games. Dallas is 39-19 in their last 58 home games and 5-11 in their last 16 Wednesday games while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400.
I get the case to be made either way in this game, but as much value as the Blackhawks may have attached to them, I can’t back Chicago in their current form against this Stars team. I like the Stars a lot and I’m seeing flashes of the team that made the cup run in the bubble a couple of years ago, but this team is doing it with offense as well and not just defense and winning low-scoring games. I think the Blackhawks are just overmatched here, so I’ll side with Dallas -1.5 in a beatdown.