Daily NHL Odds and Betting Trends – 09/25/20

by OddsShark (@OddsShark) – Sponsored Post

Here’s a look at the NHL odds and betting trends for the games on today’s schedule.

All NHL betting lines below are as listed at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.

Lightning vs Stars | OddsShark Matchup Report

Opening NHL Odds: Lightning -182 Favorites

The Lightning took control of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final in Game 3 on Wednesday, putting together a dominant 5-2 victory against the Stars as -165 favorites to go up 2-1 in the best-of-seven championship series heading into Game 4 on Friday.

Tampa Bay also saw captain Steven Stamkos return to the ice for the first time since February 25, scoring a goal on his first shot before leaving after playing less than three minutes combined over five shifts. Stamkos tallied his goal 1:25 after teammate Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring at the 5:33 mark of the first period. The Lightning then poured it on in the second period with three more goals to chase opposing goaltender Anton Khudobin, who suffered his worst loss since Game 3 against the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

That said, Colorado won three games versus Dallas but still could not win that series. The Stars should still be somewhat confident based on how they opened this series with a 4-1 win and how they have performed as underdogs during the postseason. Despite the loss, Dallas is 6-3 in its last nine games as an underdog and obviously needs to play much better defense in order to have a chance to tie things up at 2-2. The UNDER is 3-0-2 in the last five wins for the Stars while the OVER is 3-2-1 in their past six losses.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay improved to an NHL-best 16-6 overall in the playoffs, and the team has proven it can win both high-scoring and low-scoring games. The total has gone 4-4-2 in the Lightning’s last 10 wins, but the UNDER is 4-1-1 in their six losses.

The best shot Dallas has to tie up the series in Game 4 is to get a good rebound performance from Khudobin and score at least three goals. The Stars have won 10 of their previous 12 games when scoring three goals or more. It is also worth noting that these teams will be playing back-to-back days, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday, and both have played great in this situation. Tampa Bay has won five of the last six times when playing the first game of a back-to-back, and Dallas has won six in a row.

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