BEST LINES: Pinnacle +111 Bet365 +105 SportsInteraction +105 5DIMES +107

Posted at 1:30 PM EST.

7:35 PM EST. OT included. The Florida Panthers are a very decent underdog. They play hard, they work hard and their top line is one of the best in the business. However, as the chalk, the risk is too great because the big flaws in their roster mean they’re always in jeopardy of losing. Florida’s defense is a clutter of confusion out there. Ian McCoshen, Mark Pysyk and MacKenzie Weegar are getting far too many minutes because Florida has no other options right now. Florida has allowed just one goal against in two straight and they won both those two games but this is a team that ranks 20th in both Corsi For and Corsi Against. Florida is below average in just about every aspect of its game including goaltending.

Dallas played last night, which is one of the reasons that the price on them is what it is. Another reason is because Kari Lehtonen is in goal instead of Ben Bishop. Additionally, Dallas is not winning like they were projected to so their stock is lower than it should be. Dallas also dropped a 5-1 decision last night to Carolina which looks much worse on paper than it actually was. That game was 1-1 going to the third. The shots on net and scoring chances were almost dead even but Carolina scored four times in the third on nine shots on net. Dallas may not be getting the results on the scoreboard but they are greatly improved from last year, especially on defense, where they rank 10 positions higher than last year at this same point of the season. In fact, the Stars overall Corsi numbers rank 8th in the league. They are a slightly above average possession team and like Florida, they have one of the NHL’s best lines. The big difference is on defense, where Dallas has good puck-moving defensemen while the Panthers have at least three playing 14 minutes a game or more that look lost out there. We couldn’t care less that the Stars are playing back-to-back. They are playing well enough to win more games and certainly well enough to beat this host.  

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