DALLAS STARS @ NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Ice Hockey : North America : NHL
Thursday, December 15th, 2011, 7:00PM US
(12:00AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

Dallas are missing goalie Kari Lehtonen till Christmas but in his place come Andrew Raycroft and Richard Bachman. Bachman might be all this team needs though as he he stopped all 34 shots in his last match, against the NY Rangers, giving his team the 1-0 win. In the previous match, his first for the Stars, he let in just 1 goal.

Dallas are 17-11-1 coming into this match, a classic revenge spot, as they were beaten by the Islanders less than a fortnight ago in a 5-4 finish. It's a good time to play the Islanders, who are slumping, having lost 3 straight games.

New York are a miserable 9-16-6 for the season and just 6-7-3 at home. However, they are on a terrible run at the moment, losing 5 of their last 6 home games! The Islanders are giving up too many goals, 3.25 per game, and goaltender Al Montoya comes into this having allowed 10 goals in his last 2 starts. Even his backup, Evgeni Nabokov, comes in with a 2.88GAA and a 1-5 losing record.

New York have a lot of trends going against them here, having never won a game that goes past regulation. Dallas are 8-2-1 when visiting the Islanders, so with revenge on their minds, it's hard to look past the better team here.

BETTING VERDICT

Dallas are a great bet here to win, but the regulation win is priced too high for me to ignore. I'll chance it with that, but feel free to take the ML win including OT.

The Pick :

Dallas Stars

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Dallas Stars -0.5 (Regulation) @ 2.50 (Pinnacle)