NHL Picks: Phoenix Coyotes vs Dallas Stars

Monday, 11 February 2008

In the only game of NHL picks tonight the Phoenix Coyotes travel to the Lone Star State to take on the Dallas Stars. Phoenix has really been struggling this season as it doesn’t seem that head coach Wayne Gretzky is able to transfer his knowledge of the game to his players. Phoenix has lost three in row and five of their last six overall to put their season mark at 28-24-0-4 and sit 18^th in the NHL in total points. The Phoenix offense certainly hasn’t picked up on Gretzky’s scoring ability as they sit only 17^th in scoring with a 2.68 goals per game average. Just like every other performance category, the Coyotes sit in the middle of the pack in power play effectiveness as well ranking 15^th scoring on 17.9% of their chances. They haven’t done well coming from behind this season as they have won only 27% of their game when trailing after the first period. It would appear that the losing streak will continue tonight as BetOnline.com has the Coyotes listed as a large +170 underdogs on the money line and +1.5/-175 on the puck line.

Unlike the Phoenix Coyotes, the Dallas Stars come into tonight’s NHL picks red hot as they have won 6 in a row and 9 of their last 11. The Dallas offense has been a force to recon with this season as they score an average of 2.86 goals per game and rank 8^th in the NHL. The Dallas defense anchored by goaltender Marty Turco who has a 91% save percentage, rank 8^th in goals against giving up only 2.46 goals per game. Surprisingly Dallas has not been very effecting in holding on to a lead this season as they have won 82% of their games when leading after two periods but rank only 22^nd in the league. Another advantage that Dallas looks to have over Phoenix is their penalty killing unit as they rank 1^st in the NHL giving up a goal 12.5% of the time.

Although Phoenix has struggled recently they have had some good success versus divisional opponents as they are 12-6 ATS versus a division opponent this season and have beaten the Stars the last two times that they have faced each other. However, Dallas has been effective in the past looking for revenge as they are a perfect 6-0 ATS revenging 2 consecutive losses to opponent as a favorite this season.

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