Tuesday picks: Hawks will take down Stars
Welcome to NHL Picks where CBSSports.com hockey writers Chris Peters and Adam Gretz share their predictions for all of the day’s games.
Chicago Blackhawks at Dallas Stars, 8:30 p.m. ET
For the first time this season, the NHL’s three top scorers will be on the same ice surface when Patrick Kane (50 points) and the Chicago Blackhawks travel to take on Jamie Benn (45 points), Tyler Seguin (46 points) and the Dallas Stars. Tuesday night’s tilt also represents a meeting of the Central Division’s top two teams and figures to be a wildly entertaining matchup.
The Stars have managed to put eight points between themselves and the rest of the division and have a chance to make that gap even wider Tuesday. Just last night the club earned a 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild after falling into a 2-0 hole early. It’s been amazing just how quickly Dallas can jump on a team. Their first goal didn’t come until there was five minutes left in the second period and by the time the middle frame was over, Dallas was up 3-2.
The Stars will be running into one of the league’s hottest goalies, however, as the Blackhawks are expected to start Corey Crawford. The two-time Stanley Cup winning netminder is 7-1-0 over his last eight games and has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of his last 12 starts. He is 18-8-2 with a .927 save percentage and 2.15 goals in 28 appearances this year.
The Blackhawks have also heated up offensively themselves with 10 goals aver their last three games, plus one awarded for a shootout win. Kane has started another scoring streak as he has points in each of his last three games and owns a four-point lead on Seguin in the league’s scoring title race.
Chicago will be missing Marian Hossa, however, as he deals with an upper-body injury. That’s a loss for Chicago, but they did manage a win without him in their last game thanks to some heroics from Kane and captain Jonathan Toews. They’re going to need their depth to help out a lot against the Stars’ vaunted offensive attack.
Tuesday night will also mark the Blackhawks’ first game against former teammate Patrick Sharp, who was previously part of Chicago’s Stanley Cup core as one of eight players that had been part of each of their last three titles. The Stars roster also includes former Blackhawks defenseman and two-time cup winner Johnny Oduya and the team’s first Stanley Cup-winning goalie Antti Niemi.
That will be one of the many secondary storylines in what is sure to be a fascinating game between two of the league’s best teams presently. Both clubs will be playing their third game in four nights, with this game falling as a back-to-back for Dallas. The Stars have had only two prior instances of back-to-back games so far this season and have managed to lose one of the two games each of the previous two times.
They also have a tough decision in net after having had to play both of their goalies against the Wild. Antti Niemi played most of the game after Kari Lehtonen got pulled early against the Wild. Neither of the Dallas tenders have been exceptional this season, but both are more than adequate. They’ll surely be tested by a Chicago team that’s been rolling.
There’s really no better way to head into the three-day Christmas break than with two of the league’s best going head-to-head. With so much offensive firepower on both sides of the ice, this could end up being a high-scoring affair. However, with Crawford’s play of late and with Dallas playing the second half of a back-to-back, we’re going to give the Blackhawks a slight edge in this one. Pick: Blackhawks 5, Stars 3
The Blackhawks and Stars will meet for the first time this season. (USATSI)
The rest of Tuesday night’s picks
Boston Bruins 4, St. Louis Blues 2
New York Rangers 3, Anaheim Ducks 1
Detroit Red Wings 3, New Jersey Devils 2
Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Vancouver Canucks 3
Ottawa Senators 4, Florida Panthers 2
Minnesota Wild 3, Montreal Canadiens 1
Calgary Flames 4, Winnipeg Jets 3
Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Arizona Coyotes 1
Los Angeles Kings 4, San Jose Sharks 1
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