Chicago Blackhawks vs Dallas Stars Predictions, NHL Expert Picks 2/23/2020

Game: Chicago Blackhawks vs Dallas Stars

Date: Sunday, February 23, 2020

Location: American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX

TV: NSCH/FSSW

Odds/Point Spread: Blackhawks (+173) Stars (-193)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Robin Lehner and the Chicago Blackhawks (27-26-8, 7th in the Central Division) are headed to American Airlines Center on Sunday where they'll meet the Dallas Stars (35-20-6, 3rd in the Central Division). The Stars open this matchup at -193 while the Blackhawks are coming in at +173. The total has been set at 5.5. The Blackhawks cover 41.4% of the time, having gone 24-34 SU. Dallas is covering 55.9% of the time, going 33-26 straight up.

The Chicago Blackhawks head into this game holding a record of 27 wins and 26 defeats, which puts them at 7th in the Central Division. Thus far in the season, they have converted a total of 178 goals which ranks 9th in the West and 19th in the NHL. Their goal differential is -13, which puts them at 23rd in the NHL. The Blackhawks have earned a total of 62 pts, which ranks 25th in the NHL and 12th in the West. When talking about shots at the opposition, they have earned a total of 1,931 which ranks 8th in the Western Conference and 14th in the NHL. As a group, Chicago currently has a total of 1,277 hits which means they are averaging 20.9 per contest. They have earned a total of 771 blocks for the year. The man in goal for Chicago is Robin Lehner from Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. He is 28 years old and has been on the ice a total of 1,875 minutes minding the goal for the season. Lehner is conceding an average of 3.01 goals per contest which has him ranked 25th in the Western Conference and 48th among goalies in the NHL. Over the course of this season, he's given up 94 goals. His save % is .918 which has him ranked 9th in the Western Conference.

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The Chicago Blackhawks had a good night with a 2 - 1 win against the Nashville Predators their last time out. The Blackhawks had a rough night on the offensive side of the ice in this win. In this game, they netted 2 of the 38 shots they put on goal. Additionally, they had 4 power play opportunities and notched 1 goal out of those tries. Chicago ended up with 10 penalty minutes for this matchup. The Corsi for the Blackhawks was 52 and the Corsi against was 54 telling us they have a Corsi percentage of 49.1%. Their Fenwick sat at 37 while the Fenwick against at even strength was 44, which means they had a Fenwick percentage of 45.7%. They earned 17 face-off wins at even strength and lost 17 attempts to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them came in at 47.5% and they had a PDO of 101.0 in this game. In terms of their opponent's stats, the Nashville Predators tallied 43 shots. They finished with 8 penalty minutes and they earned a total of 5 power play attempts.

The Stars will be looking to add points to their total and for the season they sit with 35 victories and 20 losses. When it comes to goal differential, they are currently ranked 5th in the Western Conference and 15th in the league with +7. They currently have a total of 163 goals for the season which has them ranked at 12th in the Western Conference. Dallas has a save % as a team of .920 which has them sitting 2nd in the league, which means chances to score may be limited. They have a team shooting percentage of 8.8% ranking them 11th in the West. In goal for Dallas is Ben Bishop who is having a marginal season by surrendering 2.45 goals against average and that places him 5th among West goaltenders and 12th in the NHL among goalies. In the 2,301 mins he's been on the ice this season, he has given up 94 goals. He has a save % of .922, which has him ranked 5th among West goaltenders and 10th in the NHL among goalies.

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The Dallas Stars went up against the St. Louis Blues in an outing where the Stars were on the wrong end of the score by a score of 5 - 1. For this game, Dallas went home with a 47.2% Corsi rating. They earned that percentage by having a Corsi of 34 and the other team having a Corsi of 38. They had a Fenwick percentage of 46.0% by notching a Fenwick of 23 and the Blues ending the game with a 27 Fenwick. This Corsi percentage speaks to the kind of game that Dallas had and it tells us that they didn't have their best game. Their PDO at even strength was 82.1 and their percentage of oZS was 71.3%. The Stars converted 1 goal of the 19 shots on goal they pursued. They had 4 power play attempts in this game but didn't put one in the back of the net. Concerning the opposition, the Blues had 1 power play chance but weren't able to put the puck in the net. Dallas gave way to 23 shots on goal and the Blues ended up with a total of 12 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's hockey game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Chicago (+173)

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