Daily NHL Odds and Betting Trends – 09/28/20
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 -162 Favorites
The Stars will look to force a Game 7 in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final on Monday in Game 6 following a 3-2 double-overtime win over the Lightning as +145 underdogs in Game 5 on Saturday.
Dallas has relied on a pair of veteran free agents to get to this point in Corey Perry and Joe Pavelski, who have combined to score the team’s last six goals, including all three in Game 5. Perry scored the first and last goals on Saturday while Pavelski tallied the second for the Stars after lighting the lamp twice in a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss in Game 4 on Friday. Pavelski is tied with Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point for the overall playoff lead with 13 goals apiece, and both players will try to stay hot in a huge Game 6.
The Lightning have been extended to a sixth game for just the second time this postseason, and they hope to find the back of the net more against goaltender Anton Khudobin in this spot. Khudobin was fantastic for Dallas in Game 5, making 39 saves to bounce back from two straight games in which he surrendered five goals. The 34-year-old Russian has made almost as many starts in the playoffs (23) as he did during the regular season (26), and he is just the fifth goalie since 1956 to make more than 700 saves in a single postseason.
Counterpart Andrei Vasilevskiy is eight years younger and seemingly has an advantage for Tampa Bay with youth on his side, but he has started every game of each playoff series.
Offensively, the key in Game 6 could be which team can manage to score three goals. The Stars have gone 11-3 in their last 14 games when scoring three times or more while the Lightning are 14-1 in their past 15 under that same scenario. Tampa Bay has also won each of its previous three playoff series in OT, and an extra session has been required to decide the last two games here. The OVER is still 4-2-1 in the last seven losses for Dallas, so playing another high-scoring affair would probably not be in the team’s best interests.
On the other hand, the Lightning are 6-1 in the past seven games they have played that have ended up going OVER the total. In addition, it is worth noting that Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos has been ruled out for the rest of the series after providing a spark with one goal on one shot in less than three minutes of Game 3.
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