Dallas (1-1) at Edmonton (1-1)
When: Monday, May 27th 2024
Where: Rogers Place,
Edmonton, Alberta
Time: 8:30 ET | TV: TNT
Opening Odds: Edmonton -125/5.5
The Dallas Stars avoided going down 2-0 in their best-of-seven series with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2. The Western Conference finals now shift back to Texas for Game 3 on Monday night with the winner taking the series lead. Edmonton won a tight Game 1 in double-overtime, but Dallas rebounded for a win in Game 2. After opening the first two games of the series as underdogs, the Oilers are now a -120 favorite at home for Monday’s Game 3 with a total of 5.5.
All five games between these teams during the regular season and the playoffs have been tight except for a 5-0 Dallas win last month. The Stars entered the series as a small favorite to advance to the Stanley Cup, but those odds have shifted to Edmonton being a -115 favorite to Dallas’ -105. The exact series result favorite is a tie between Dallas winning in seven and Edmonton winning in six, at +350 each. The biggest longshot is a Dallas win in five games at +600.
DALLAS STARS
Things didn’t look good for Dallas in Game 2 after they were outshot 16-4 in the first period but battled back and outshot Edmonton 21-13 the rest of the way. Captain Jamie Benn, Mason Marchment and Esa Lindell scored the goals for the Stars, while Miro Heiskanen added an assist and now leads the team with 14 points (5G, 9A) in the playoffs. Jake Oettinger improved his postseason record to 9-6 with a 2.04 goals-against average and .922 save percentage. Top line center Roope Hintz, who was hurt in the series against Colorado, could return for tonight’s Game 3.
EDMONTON OILERS
Connor Brown got the lone goal for Edmonton early in Game 2, but that was all the Oilers could manage against the Stars defense. Stuart Skinner made 22 saves in net and has a 2.65 GAA in the playoffs. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman were held pointless in Game 2 after they each scored in Game 1. Draisaitl leads the league with 25 playoff points, McDavid is second with 23 and Hyman leads all players with 12 goals. Edmonton still ranks second in the postseason with a 34.6 percent power play, but are 0-for-3 in this series. Going back to Game 5 of the second round, the Oilers are just 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) on the power play.
Prediction:
Edmonton’s recent lack of production on the power play is not a good sign. Dallas has been great through two games at not giving the Oilers a chance to be on a man-advantage. I’ll back the Stars in this game because they have been terrific on the road this postseason (5-1). There is a lot of pressure on Edmonton to get Canada back to the Stanley Cup. I can see another low-scoring game and that favors Oettinger and the Stars.
