Dallas Stars vs Columbus Blue Jackets Prediction, 2/4/2021 NHL Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Dallas Stars vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021

Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH

TV: Fox Sports Ohio

Odds/Point Spread: Stars (-111) Blue Jackets (-108)

Anton Khudobin and the Dallas Stars (5-1-1) head to Nationwide Arena on Thursday where they'll take on the Columbus Blue Jackets (4-4-3). The moneyline on this matchup has the Stars coming in at -111 and the Blue Jackets are at -108. The over/under has been set at 5.5.

The Stars had a good night with a 6 - 3 win against the Blue Jackets the last time they stepped on the ice. The Stars had a solid offensive performance and it showed in this victory. For the game, they earned a goal on 6 out of the 33 shots they tried. Additionally, they had 3 power play attempts and were able to score 2 goals out of those chances. Dallas had 6 penalty mins in this matchup. The Corsi for the Stars was 41 and the Corsi against was 41 telling us they have a Corsi percentage of 50.0%. Their Fenwick sat at 36 while the Fenwick against sat at 29, which means they earned a Fenwick percentage of 55.4%. They won 26 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 18 attempts to control the puck. Their starts in the offensive zone came in at 57.1% and they had a PDO of 105.7 for this game. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Columbus Blue Jackets earned a total of 26 shots. They had a total of 6 minutes in the box and they notched 3 power play attempts.

Dallas Stars opponents have recorded 32 power play opportunities (19th in the league) and have racked up 7 goals in those attempts. The Stars have had 187 shots taken against them and have a save percentage of .914. Dallas has attempted 174 shots and has a shooting percentage of 16.7%. When playing at even strength, the Stars have allowed the opponent to score 8 goals while notching 15 on the offensive side of the ice. Dallas comes into the game with 32 power play opportunities and they have scored 13 goals out of those tries, earning them a rate of 40.63%. For the season, they have recorded 11 points and their points percentage is .786. Pertaining to their goal scoring prowess, the Dallas Stars have notched 29 goals (11th in the league) this year and have allowed 16.

Patrolling the crease for the game will be Anton Khudobin. Khudobin has participated in 223 games over the course of his NHL career. He has compiled a record of 102-77-26 and he has started in 203 games. Opponents have scored 503 goals versus Khudobin in his pro hockey career and his average for goals against per game is 2.45. Khudobin has had 6,215 shot attempts against him and he has 5,712 total saves. His save percentage sits at .919 during his 12,320 minutes guarding the cage. For his career, Khudobin has 119 quality starts and his percentage for quality starts is .586.

In their loss to Dallas, Columbus earned a 50.0% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by earning a Corsi of 41 while they surrendered a Corsi of 41. They had a Fenwick percentage of 44.6% by earning a Fenwick of 29 and the Stars earning a 36 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Columbus had and you could say that they played like a middle of the road team. They had a PDO of 94.3 and their percentage of oZS was 42.9%. The Blue Jackets notched 3 goals out of the 26 shots on goal they attempted. They had 3 power play opportunities in this one and scored 1 out of those opportunities. On the other side of the ice, the Stars had 3 power play chances and came through by scoring 2 goals. Columbus allowed 33 shots on goal and the Stars had 6 penalty mins.

Columbus has put up 319 shots (8th in professional hockey) and has earned a shooting percentage of 8.15%, while allowing the other team 368 shots. They have a penalty kill percentage of 80.00% on their opponents 25 tries on the power play, and their save percentage is currently 8.2%. They have earned 29 power play opportunities and they have accumulated a power play percentage of 13.79%. The Blue Jackets have earned 21 goals at even strength and 4 goals (25th in professional hockey) while having more men on the ice. They have permitted 33 goals to be scored by way of 28 goals at even strength and 5 goals while they had less men on the ice. So far this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets are sitting with 26 goals, 11 points, and a points percentage of .500.

On the other side of the ice you will find Elvis Merzlikins in the crease. Opponents are averaging 2.41 goals/game and he has allowed 86 goals altogether. Merzlikins' quality start percentage comes out to 55.6% and he has made 20 quality starts in his NHL career. He has been a starter 36 contests and his ice time sits at 2,141 mins. Merzlikins has earned a career record of 15-11-9 and has participated in 39 contests. He is sitting with 1,005 saves out of the 1,091 shots attempted against him, which gives him a rate of .921.

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

Josh's Pick: Take Dallas (-111)

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