Blues vs Stars

Dallas comes in off a 6-2 statement win over Boston but is still just 3-5-2 in its last 10, while St. Louis has dropped five of seven overall and is riding a seven-game road losing streak, so recent form tilts toward the home side even if the Stars haven’t been cruising. The injury report is the real divider: the Blues are missing leading scorer Robert Thomas along with Jake Neighbours and Nathan Walker on injured reserve, and Oskar Sundqvist is only recently listed as day-to-day after a deep skate cut, whereas Dallas is effectively near full strength with its core of Jason Robertson, Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Jamie Benn all active. Historically, this matchup has favored those Stars pillars: Benn has piled up 22 goals and 51 points in 58 career games against St. Louis, Robertson has 12 points in 15 meetings, and even with Jordan Kyrou’s 11 points in 14 games versus Dallas the Blues haven’t translated that into consistent wins. With both clubs past the 50-game mark, Dallas sits firmly in a Central Division playoff slot at 65 points while St. Louis is buried in the basement at 46, and the underlying numbers mirror that gap: the Stars own a +27 goal differential 166 GF, 139 GA against the Blues’ brutal -49 120 GF, 169 GA. Add in home-ice at American Airlines Center and the fact that Dallas is the deeper team even on the back half of a home back-to-back, and I’m comfortable laying the -175 moneyline with an A- grade for solid win probability and reasonable value relative to the mismatch. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 23/01/2026 09:26

St. Louis’ current skid is driven by a scoring blackout—only 120 goals in 50 games last in the league and just 2.0 goals per night over its last 10—while Dallas, despite its firepower, has been grinding through lower-event hockey at 2.6 goals for and 2.7 against over its most recent 10-game stretch. The Blues’ offensive ceiling is capped further by the absence of Thomas plus secondary pieces like Neighbours and Walker, and with Sundqvist recovering from a significant ankle cut, Jim Montgomery is leaning heavily on a reduced forward group that already struggles to finish at even strength and on the power play. Dallas, meanwhile, profiles as a classic under team at home this season: top-six in goals against with 166 for and 138 against overall, strong defensive impacts from Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, and a lethal power play that often plays from ahead and can shut games down rather than trading rush chances. With the Stars’ depth advantage, Jake Oettinger’s edge over Joel Hofer, the Blues on the wrong end of a seven-game road drought, and both sides treating every intra-division point as critical in a tight Western playoff race, the game script leans toward Dallas getting a lead and squeezing the life out of a short-handed opponent more often than it turns into a track meet, so I grade Under 6 at -125 as a B: not a slam dunk, but a modest edge driven by injuries and recent scoring trends. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 23/01/2026 09:26

Given Dallas’ +27 goal differential versus St. Louis’ -49 and the Blues’ seven-game road losing streak, there’s a real path to the Stars stretching this into a multi-goal decision once their top six leans on a depleted Blues lineup. Even if this season’s series stands 1-0 for St. Louis after the October 3-1 win, Dallas has generally controlled the matchup in recent years at American Airlines Center, and the current version of the Stars can roll three scoring lines featuring Robertson, Rantanen, Hintz, Duchene and Benn against a Blues group missing its top playmaker in Thomas and several useful depth forwards. Historically, Benn’s 22 goals and 51 points in 58 games against St. Louis and Robertson’s 12 points in 15 meetings underline how often Dallas’ stars drive offense in this matchup, and with the Stars fighting to solidify home-ice in the first round while the Blues are clinging to faint playoff hopes after losing five of seven, the motivation and talent gap both favor a result that looks more like 4-1 or 4-2 than another tight one-goal game; at a plus-price 138 I’ll take Stars -1.5 with a B- grade, recognizing the extra volatility but liking the upside. Odds and availability are subject to change. This bet was made at 23/01/2026 09:26