Stars vs Wild

Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars come into Game 4 on a two-game heater after that ugly 6-1 loss in Game 1, while the Wild have dropped two straight and suddenly find themselves trying to avoid heading back to Dallas down 3-1. Dallas remains without top-line driver Roope Hintz (along with depth winger Nathan Bastian), but Minnesota’s forward group is even more compromised with Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin both sidelined, thinning out their matchup options behind the Kirill Kaprizov–Joel Eriksson Ek–Matt Boldy core. In this series alone Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Matt Duchene have already combined for a stack of goals against Minnesota, building on strong head-to-head numbers from the regular season, whereas Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek are being asked to shoulder heavy two-way minutes against Miro Heiskanen’s matchup pair. Jake Oettinger has stabilized after Game 1 and now owns the better body of work in the series compared with Jesper Wallstedt, and Dallas’ defensive structure has looked tighter at five-on-five as the series has gone on. Add in the Stars’ historically strong Game 4 profile and comfort playing on the road in this matchup, and taking the plus-money side with Dallas at 115 is an appealing way to back the team with the cleaner form and healthier high-end depth; I grade this moneyline bet a solid B. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 25/04/2026 09:22

Through three games this series has produced final scores of 6-1, 4-2 and 4-3 (in double overtime), but a lot of that headline scoring has come from special teams, empty-netters and extra hockey rather than sustained track meet pace at five-on-five. With Roope Hintz out for Dallas and both Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin unavailable for Minnesota, each side is missing important pieces of its top-nine, which tends to nudge coaches toward shorter benches, more defensive-zone starts for checking lines and a slightly slower, more cautious tempo in a pivotal Game 4. Jake Oettinger has trended up since the opener, while the Wild will lean heavily on Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes and Jared Spurgeon to insulate Jesper Wallstedt after he faced a barrage in Games 2 and 3, and that combination points toward fewer clean looks off the rush. The counterweight is that both power plays are dangerous and aggressive offensive defensemen like Heiskanen and Hughes are jumping into the play, so you can’t treat an under as a slam dunk, but the injury attrition up front and the way the series has tightened territorially make Under 6 at -125 the side I prefer. I’ll tag the total play as a B- given the respectable edge on game script but elevated volatility from special teams and potential late-game empty-net chaos. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 25/04/2026 09:22

Dallas and Minnesota have played a string of tight games over the last year, and even in this series the final two contests have landed on competitive 4-2 and 4-3 scorelines after the one-off 6-1 blowout in Game 1, which fits the profile of two fairly evenly matched, defensively-structured Central rivals. With the Wild short two regular forwards and the Stars missing Hintz, both benches are relying more on balanced ice time and heavier usage for their top blue-liners, dynamics that usually suppress true blowout risk and keep one-goal outcomes very much in play. Dallas’ core of Robertson, Mikko Rantanen, Johnston and Duchene has shown it can generate enough offense against this Minnesota group to stay inside the number even if the Wild find a way to level the series on home ice, and Oettinger has the higher ceiling if this turns into another grind of a low-event third period. Laying -225 on the road underdog puckline isn’t cheap and caps the overall value, but given the way these teams have traded chances and the current injury report, taking Stars +1.5 aligns well with both the moneyline lean and the expectation of another close, one- or two-goal playoff game, so I’ll grade this puckline bet a B-. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 25/04/2026 09:22