Los Angeles Dodgers
Blues Tough to Beat at Home
Dallas on Back-To-Back and on the Road
The St. Louis Blues will try to defend their home ice on Sunday as they play host to the Dallas Stars — winners of four games in a row — at Enterprise Center. St. Louis is second in the Central Division, behind the Nashville Predators, and has won three of four while Dallas’ hot streak has the Stars quickly gaining much-needed ground. The Blues are sizable home favorites on the NHL betting lines.
St. Louis is coming off an impressive 4-1 beatdown of the Washington Capitals on Friday night at home. Backup goalie Ville Husso saved 26 of the 27 shots he faced while the Blues scored three times in the second period to force Ilya Samsonov from the game. Pavel Buchnevich led the way with a pair of goals.
Dallas had a big win on Saturday in the first half of a back-to-back, coming back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on a Roope Hintz goal with under four minutes left in regulation. The Stars shut Pittsburgh’s offense down in the final two periods to notch a perfect homestand.
Game: Dallas Stars (17-12-2; 36 points) at St. Louis Blues (20-10-5; 45 points)
Location: Enterprise Center
Day/Time: Sunday, January 9, 2 p.m. ET
Television: NHL Network
Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Elite Home Team
Significant home-road splits are common in the NHL and the Blues are a great example of that. St. Louis is a mediocre 7-7-3 on the road but is a stellar 13-3-2 on home ice. In fact, the Blues have lost just one game at home since November 16th, going 11-0-1 in that span.
The real separating factor for the Blues between their home and road efforts has been scoring in the second and third periods. Overall, St. Louis has outscored opponents 70-41 in their home games, good for a ridiculous +29 goal differential. But, they only lead 17-14 in the first period of home games while the Blues outscore opponents 25-12 in the second period and 27-13 in the third period.
It’s clear that St. Louis gains an extra edge later in games in front of its home crowd, and that has allowed the Blues to be so dominant when playing at Enterprise Center. If you’re betting online, you should keep an eye on that.
Dallas Struggles on Road
Interestingly, the Stars are similar to the Blues in terms of home-road splits but Dallas’ play is worse on the road (compared to Dallas’ play at home) than St. Louis’. The Stars have scored 29 goals in 14 road games while they have scored 60 goals in 17 home games. That’s almost a goal and a half per game difference.
Dallas’ recent play illustrates that issue well. The Stars’ entire four-game winning streak has come at home and they have lost four-straight away from home. Dallas’ only road win since November 4 was against the lowly Arizona Coyotes.
The talent is there for the Stars who have had great seasons from Joe Pavelski, Jason Robertson, Hintz, and Miro Heiskanen but there isn’t much depth with Dallas, and everyone’s play somehow seems to suffer mightily on the road.
Stars Likely to Use Backup in Net
Goaltending hasn’t been the predominant issue for the Stars, it’s been the lack of consistent offense. Between Jake Oettinger, Braden Holtby, and Anton Khudobin (currently in the AHL), Dallas is 15th in save percentage and 16th in goals-against average. Oettinger and Holtby have mostly split time lately but Oettinger has been much better — and got the win on Saturday — as Dallas looks to build up the former 1st rounder to be the unquestioned No. 1 soon.
A big reason why the Blues are solid favorites in this game on the BetUS Sportsbook is that the Stars might turn to Holtby for the start tonight. The veteran hasn’t been bad (.919 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average) but he hasn’t been nearly as good as Oettinger (.923 and 2.22).
With an early puck drop, Dallas might play it safe and go with Holtby instead of Oettinger twice in 24 hours. That’s another boost for St. Louis, which has Jordan Binnington rested up.
