 Western Conf Preview
Dallas vs. Detroit
Season series: Red Wings 3-1
Series price: Detroit -200, Dallas +180
When your second-line center leads the playoffs with 11 goals and you have three defensemen with at least seven points through 10 games, it's not hard to see why you're the Stanley Cup favorite.
That’s the balanced attack the Red Wings are bringing to the ice right now and the Dallas Stars are the next team with the tall task of trying to stop them.
The Stars will have to find a way to keep Johan Franzen from scoring. He ripped up nine goals in four games against the Avalanche last round and he now has 26 goals in his last 26 games. Niklas Kronvall, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski each have at least seven points and there are 12 Wings in total who have scored at least once these playoffs in 10 games.
The Stars have also been winning with balance, which is why we might see these underdogs give a tougher fight in this series than the odds might suggest. Fourteen Stars have goals through 12 games and their top four scorers all have double digits in points.
The three centers of Mike Rebeiro, Brad Richards and Mike Modano have been the anchors for three strong lines and each player has at least six assists and 10 points coming into Detroit. They’re also getting great goaltending from Marty Turco, who has the second-best goals against average after two rounds.
Detroit’s Chris Osgood has the best GAA so far at 1.52 so we can expect some low over/unders at least in the early going of this series. Both teams also like to play defensive styles, so scoring goals won’t come easily.
Special teams might be the deciding factor in this series and right now it’s tough to find an edge. Detroit scored seven power play goals in the sweep over Colorado, but the Wings also allowed two power play goals in each of their last two games.
Dallas scored at a rate of 22.7 percent against San Jose’s solid penalty killing unit last round and allowed only two PP goals against.
Pick: Detroit in six games
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