Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA – Photo by Icon sport

Vegas Golden Knights vs Dallas Stars Game 7: Western Conference Playoffs – First Round

The Dallas Stars are hosting the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7 of the series at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

Is it over for the defending champions?

The Vegas Golden Knights barely made it to the playoffs, and here they are one game away from eliminating the top seed in the conference and advancing to the second round. That is much easier said than done, but the Golden Knights deserved a chance to at least play for it. They came into Game 6 with their backs against the wall, and they needed a while before they scored their first goal. Noah Hanifin hit the net as the game entered the final 10 minutes, and Mark Stone scored on the empty net to set the final 2-0 and send the series to the decisive game.

The Stars need to step up

The Dallas Stars finished on top of the Western Conference and came into the playoffs as the top seed, but that has not made any difference so far in this series. They turned the series around after losing both games at home and are now back at the American Airlines Center with a chance to advance to the next round.

Betting Trends

Vegas has won 7 of the last 10 games against Dallas and 4 of the last 5 between these two have ended under the toal goal line. The Golden Knights are 2-4 SU in the last 6 games on the road, but 5-1 in the last 6 played in Dallas. They have played under the total goal line in 6 of the last 8 games against teams from the Western Conference and in 5 of the last 7 games against teams from the Central Division.

Prediction and Conclusion

This series looks like anything but a matchup between the top and the eighth seed. Both teams had momentum at a certain point in the series, and now everything has come to a decisive Game 7. The Stars lost the first two home games but then went on to win the next three. The Golden Knights stayed alive with a late game 6 win, and now the scene is all set for another tight battle. The Stars will have the advantage with home crowd support, but looking at the stats, Vegas won five of the last six in Dallas. Anyway, four of the six games in the series stayed under 5.5 goals, and given the stakes in the last one, we are going with under 5.5 again.