Dallas vs Los Angeles: The Stars will ruin the Kings’ attacking game

Dallas will play their first game of the new season on home ice. The opponents are the Los Angeles Kings, who have lost two games in a row. Will the Stars please the public with a win, extending the Kings’ losing streak? There are several betting options to choose from.

Starting the season with four straight away games is no fun. That makes the two victories in such tough conditions all the more rewarding for Dallas. Rick Bowness’ team snatched first a win in overtime against the New York Rangers, then a poor Boston-Ottawa back-to-back, 1-3 and 2-3, but a day later secured a win in Pittsburgh. A shootout was required there, which left Dallas, 2-1. Overall, the Stars can take credit for the tourney.

It’s strange to hear that Dallas have problems on offense and the like. First of all, once again, it’s worth pointing out how difficult the calendar has been at the start. And secondly, the team isn’t scoring much, but was it any different in a Stanley Cup Final year? Rick Bowness’ team strengths are organization, discipline, and balance, not sparkling offense. That goes to Colorado, whom Dallas beat in the same Finals season, by the way.

Todd McLellan’s team got their new season off to a solid 6-2 home win over Vegas. But they left all their goalscoring potential there. They followed up their home loss to Minnesota 2-3. The Kings had a poor third period in Nashville, conceding two goals in the final stretch to lose 1-2. If 2-3 pucks are still enough for their opponent to beat LAK in regulation time, they can end their season now.

So far, the Kings’ attack is all locked in on the first unit, with only legend Anže Kopitar capable of scoring. The Slovenian already has eight points for his productivity, five of which are goals. And he is assisted almost exclusively by another legend - defenseman Drew Doughty, who already has six assists. And what about the others? Dustin Brown and Victor Arvidson, Kopitar’s teammates, have recorded one goal apiece. And also Phillip Danault, the second-string center-forward from Montreal.

Playing against Los Angeles has been easy so far. It is enough to cut off the oxygen of the first three of the attack, and the team will not score anything. Stopping the Kopitar-Brown-Arvidsson combination is difficult, but it is clear that one way or another, it will not be able to win games consistently. Dallas are the kind of team that can neutralize anything and anyone. And that means that in the upcoming game, the Kings are unlikely to score more than one or two goals. However, the Stars might play too much defensively to the detriment of their offense. So let’s not take the home team’s win here, but play Total Under.

• Total Under 5.5 for 1.76;
• Each team will score under 3.5 for 1.82.