Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars - Odds and Predictions

Where: American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX.

When: Friday, December 13, 8PM EST

How (TV/Radio): TVA, Fox Sports Southwest, ATTSN Rocky Mountain | WFAN

Vegas Golden Knights (Away)

Head Coach: Gerard Gallant{All-Time 262-209-4-50 VGK, FLA, CBJ}

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury returned to the crease for Vegas and the Knights put on a dominant 5-1 performance over the Blackhawks. However, they play Malcolm Subban tonight as this will be game two of a back-to-back for Vegas.

Offense

At best, the Vegas Golden Knights have been playing mediocre hockey. They are 5-3-2 in their last ten games and only have a road-record of 8-6-2 and a season record of 16-12-5. They have only a handful of advantages over Dallas.

First of all, their shoot. A lot. In fact, the Golden Knights have taken 1,075 shots so far this season – more than any other team. They have also scored more goals this season than Dallas.

But Vegas only ranks at 17th for combined goals scored, which leaves them ranked at 25th in the league when it comes to shooting percentage – only 8.4 percent of their shots find the back of the net.

They do hold the advantage on the power play over Dallas, however. With a 22 percent success rate, the Golden Knights have the eighth-best power play in the league. They have 22 power-play goals.

They will have a significant disadvantage in the faceoff department against the Stars and will potentially struggle for puck possession most of the night.

Defense

Defensively, Vegas will have their hands full. The team has allowed the 11th-most goals against in the league (93) and they have allowed the fifth-most shots against (1010). They average an allowance of just over 31 shots per game.

Their power play has been respectable this season, ranking at ninth in the league with an 83.96 percent. But Dallas is just a tad better.

With that said, however, Vegas’ penalty-killing unit has managed to score five shorthanded goals this season – the second-most in the league.

Like the penalty kill, their goaltending has been respectable (they have the 22th-best save percentage in the league), but Dallas’ is just far superior.

Goaltending

Although the Knights recently had Marc-Andre Fleury return to the lineup, it is expected that backup goaltender Malcolm Subban will be in the crease for Vegas Friday night. Subban has a season record of 4-5-3, a goals-against-average of 3.04, and a .901 save percentage.

Head Coach: Rick Bowness{All-Time 124-289-48-3 DAL, NYI, PHX, OTT, BOS, WPG}

Although the reasoning behind the firing of head coach Jim Montgomery is still unclear, the Dallas Stars haven’t slowed down under interim coach Rick Bowness. In fact, they have won three straight and moved into fourth place in the Central division.

Offense

For all the offensive talent that this team has, they certainly aren’t known for scoring goals. In fact, Dallas may be the lowest scoring competitive team. They were the lowest-scoring team to make the playoffs last season and it looks like that trend is continuing.

Dallas has combined for only 81 goals this season – 63 at even strength and 16 on the power play.

With that said, their power play is performing above that of the Golden Knights. Dallas has a power-play percentage of 18.18 percent.

Dallas doesn’t get enough pucks to the net, however, and the ones they do aren’t great. In fact, Dallas is tied with Vegas for one of the worst shooting percentages in the league at 8.4 percent.

Defense

As mentioned earlier, the Dallas Stars edge out the Golden Knights in almost every category defensively.

For starters, their penalty kill ranks four spots above Vegas. They having a penalty-killing percentage of 84.62 percent – the league’s sixth-best.

They have a huge advantage in net as well. Ben Bishop has been on fire as of late and the team’s combined save percentage now sits at .923 which is the fourth-best in the NHL right now.

The teams also rank first when it comes to average goal allowance per game. On average, Dallas lets in no more than 2.31 goals against per game – the lowest average in the league.

They also have the tenth-lowest average when it comes to penalty minutes per game.

Goaltending

Starting goalie and Vezina nominee Ben Bishop will get the start in net for Dallas against the Golden Knights. After a rough start, Bishop has bounced back and has gone 12-6-2 on the season. His GAA sits at 2.03 and he has a .934 save percentage – the third-best out of all NHL goaltenders this season. He has one shutout.

These two teams last faced off less than one month ago on November 25. The Dallas Stars came away with the victory, defeating Vegas by a final score of 4-2.

These are two teams seemingly headed in different directions, and both need the win. Vegas has been nothing if not inconsistent this year compared to their first two seasons.

Yet, they have everything it takes to be winners. They need to take things one game at a time. Dallas, on the other hand, is surging, and every two points they collect make up for two points missed at the start of the season.

Questions to Answer

How has the firing of Jim Montgomery affected the Stars’ locker room? They have won three in a row, but they have yet to receive answers over the loss of a coach who seemed to be respected by all players.

How will Malcolm Subban hold up in net with a roster in front of him that just did battle with the St. Louis Blues and with an elite goalie in Ben Bishop staring down the ice at him?

How important is home-ice advantage? The Dallas Stars have played their best on home ice, going 12-4-1 this season. Vegas is only 8-62 on the road. Is this game over before it begins?

Vegas Golden Knights Injury Report

F Cody Eakin – OUT (head)

F Cody Glass – day-to-day (concussion)

Dallas Stars Injury Report

F Martin Hanzal – DL (back)

D Stephen Johns – DL (head)

Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars Odds

The latest odds for the Knights vs the Stars are provided by 888Sport NJ, SugarHouse NJ, and DraftKings.

Good Luck!

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