The Edmonton Oilers won Game 7 against the Vancouver Canucks in the Canadian National Championship and will travel to Dallas for the NHL Western Conference Finals.
The Oilers are short road underdogs at +105 on FanDuel, while the Stars are priced at -126 odds. Oddsmakers are projecting the total to be 5.5, with high hopes for the over (-140).
Dallas hasn’t played in six days and will be heavily rested heading into this series, while the Oilers are coming off a Game 7 win on Monday night.
Edmonton has been playing offensively for most of the season since firing coach Jay Woodcroft and bringing in Rangers AHL manager Chris Knobloch.
Knobrow’s team led the league in expected goal percentage (58.72%) throughout the regular season, and maintained that good performance in the playoffs.
The Oilers have two of the most prolific scorers in hockey in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The danger for Edmonton is turnovers: They committed the fourth-most turnovers in hockey at 5-on-5 during the regular season, which could be an issue against a well-rounded Stars team.
Oilers vs Stars Game 1 Predictions
(8:30 p.m. ET, TNT)
The Stars have created a ton of high-danger scoring opportunities and have looked like the best team in the NHL playoffs thus far.
Dallas is first in expected goals allowed in the playoffs, second in high-danger shots allowed and first among the remaining four teams.
Interestingly, the Canucks rank third in this category, showing how the aforementioned Oilers turnovers directly translate into offensive opportunities.
Based on that alone, Dallas will be in a good position in this series.
Now we move on to the goaltender matchup, with the Oilers reintroducing Stuart Skinner into the lineup after having him on the bench for the last series.
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Dallas’ Jake Oettinger ranks second in goals allowed during the playoffs and third in goals blocked above expectation.
This line is pretty generous since the money is going to the glorious Oilers.
Star at odds of -126.
Pick: Stars Moneyline (-126, FanDuel)
