Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 11/26/2022

Time: 9 p.m. ET

Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, CO

Where to watch: ALT, BSSWX

DraftKings: Avalanche -135, Stars +115

FanDuel: Avalanche -134, Stars +112

BetMGM: Avalanche -132, Stars +110

Caesars: Avalanche -135, Stars +115

Stars: 12-5-4

Avalanche: 11-6-1

Stars: lost 5-4 (OT) vs. Jets

Avalanche: lost 4-3 vs. Canucks

We almost got a serious sense of deja vu from the Dallas Stars on Friday. Remember when Dallas was down a goal late against the Colorado Avalanche earlier in the week? And who was there to bail them out and get at least a point out of that game? Jason Robertson. Dallas was down 4-3 with time ticking down in regulation against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, and who was there to bail them out? Jason Robertson. Arguably speaking the best scorer in the game right now resides in Dallas and he is the main reason why Dallas is in a position is it right now. But the stars and the avalanche will go at it one more time for the second time this week in what should be an important game primarily for Dallas after losing Friday night to Winnipeg, and with Scott Wedgewood likely being the starting goaltender for this team for this game, this is a good opportunity for Colorado to take advantage.

I think of all the teams that have gotten off to good starts this season, and there are a lot of good ones like Seattle for example, I can't get over how good Dallas has looked to start the season. I understand that Pete DeBoer coming in there should have lit some sort of spark for Dallas because it's a new coach, they're coming off a playoff run last year, so the stars were aligned pun intended to really make something happen this year. But I don't think it quite elevated to the point that we're seeing right now with Dallas. When you look at how Robertson has turned into such a dynamic scorer and is so dangerous with the puck, it really is quite impressive what this young kid can do. There's also Jamie Benn coming back and going on a scoring rampage the likes of which we haven't seen in quite some time period Joe Pavelski continues to be awesome for that team, and so many other guys down the line that have just made Dallas so good and so fun to watch.

But all good things eventually find a way to fizzle at the end. And I've been talking about this from someone who has watched a lot of golden Knights hockey over the last number of years. Or as great as the boar is as a coach, eventually things start to die down. When that will happen, remains to be seen and I'm not really sure when we'll find out when the lull is. But ultimately right now Dallas is operating with some young talent that is mixed with some very good veterans and they continue to find ways to score goals they continue to find way to make the offense look easy, and it makes things look very good from the Dallas perspective.

But I think as what we learned from the earlier matchup this week is that the defending Stanley Cup champions are still very much dangerous and they've started to pick up some wins over the course of the last few games with the exception of losing 3-22 Vancouver at home on Wednesday. That completely deflated all the momentum Colorado put together coming off an undefeated three-game road trip that included wins against Carolina and Dallas. That was the stretch where we could start looking at Colorado again and saying they are back and they're going to take things over in the central division with a few games in hand. But then they have efforts against Vancouver the other night and it doesn't really mesh well together.

But if there's anything that goes in favor of Colorado it's the fact that Dallas is on the second night of a back-to-back after traveling. The fact that they are even traveling to a different time zone is cause for concern if I'm someone putting money on this game period so I look at it from Colorado standpoint knowing that they've been playing well, they've had some days to rest after what was considered a very bad game against a very mediocre team, and Nathan MacKinnon and company should be able to rebound and have a good solid outing in this game.

if Dallas had won Friday night against Winnipeg I would be more inclined to think Dallas can complete this back-to-back sweep. But the fact that they have had to travel right after Thanksgiving and right after a tough game, an angry Colorado team awaits them at home they've had another day to relax to get over the tryptophan and this plays extremely into Colorado’s hands. Avalanche win 4-3

Stars are 196-170 on the road when playing second game in five days since 1996.

Stars are 78-69 on the road revenging a loss by one goal orless since 1996.

Avalanche are 54-18 after winning 4 or 5 of the last six over the last 2 seasons.

Avalanche:

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen

Alex Newhook -- Evan Rodrigues -- Martin Kaut

Andrew Cogliano -- J.T. Compher -- Logan O'Connor

Anton Blidh -- Jayson Megna -- Dryden Hunt

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Jacob MacDonald -- Josh Manson

Andreas Englund -- Erik Johnson

Alexandar Georgiev

Stars:

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Mason Marchment -- Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin

Matej Blumel -- Wyatt Johnston -- Ty Dellandrea

Joel Kiviranta -- Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening

Miro Heiskanen -- Colin Miller

Ryan Suter -- Nils Lundkvist

Esa Lindell -- Jani Hakanpaa

Scott Wedgewood