After losing the series opener, the Vegas Golden Knights – now slight favorites to win the Western Conference final – hope to live up to their billing in Game 2 against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
- Date/Time: September 8, 8 p.m. ET
- Arena: Rogers Place
- TV Coverage: NBCSN
- Sportsbook Odds: Golden Knights -150 | O/U 5.5 (Line History)
- Stars vs Golden Knights Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
With their backs against the wall early on after getting blanked 1-0 in Game 1 on Sunday, the Golden Knights are still favored to even this series and advance to their second Stanley Cup Final in three years. Of course, all that can change with a loss in Game 2, but Vegas has been known to rebound in the past, and the team’s backers are counting on it in moving the line up to -160 at some sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.
Dallas News & Notes
The Stars played a nearly perfect series opener and took advantage of the absence of Ryan Reaves to push the Golden Knights around and limit their scoring opportunities. Goaltender Anton Khudobin notched his first career shutout with 25 saves while defenseman John Klingberg gave him all the offense he needed with the only goal.
Reaves will be back for Game 2 after serving his suspension, but he is much more of a tone setter than a scorer who can help get his teammates back on track offensively. Dallas frustrated Vegas defensively and will look to do so again here, knowing that this is a deep opponent that will not give up easily. The Stars were able to overpower an injury-riddled Colorado Avalanche club in the last round, and they want to put further doubts into the heads of the Golden Knights in this spot.
Vegas News & Notes
Vegas will likely give Robin Lehner the nod in goal over Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 24 saves in Game 1 and kept his team in it. But neither will find the back of the net against Dallas, so teammates Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty will need to step up to do that for them. Stone and Pacioretty are two of the offensive leaders for the Golden Knights and must find a way to light the lamp.
Defenseman Shea Theodore has done the most damage this postseason with a team-best 16 points (six goals and 10 assists) while Stone is right behind him with 15. Pacioretty has just seven points in 12 games, as he missed some time early in the playoffs due to injury. If the Golden Knights are going to even this up, Stone and Pacioretty must come through.
Betting Pick: Stars +145
Dallas is playing with a ton of confidence right now while Vegas is at the opposite end of the spectrum. This could be the defining game of the series for the Stars because they can really make the Golden Knights doubt themselves if they go up 2-0, which would put Vegas in the position of having to win four out of five. Dallas is playing too well with too much value.
- The Stars are 6-1 in their last 7 games as underdogs.
- The Golden Knights are 7-3 in their past 10 meetings with the Stars.
- The UNDER is 6-3-1 in the past 10 head-to-head meetings.
