Dallas vs Philadelphia: Even back-to-back won’t stop the Flyers from claiming points in Texas

Philadelphia has a back-to-back, and the Flyers had a great start, beating Carolina on the road. But now Alain Vigneault's team will face the Dallas Stars. Will the fatigued Flyers manage to score points in Texas? We'll pick a few options to bet on.

The interesting thing is that Rick Bowness' team seems to be playing pretty well, not worse than their Stanley Cup Finals season, but still struggles to win. In the last 7 games, the Stars have only one victory, and that was obtained in Calgary in overtime, and moreover after a comeback with 1-3 in the third period. It seems that Dallas isn't just physically unprepared, which can be fixed over the distance but also lacks confidence, which is much harder to fix.

Gaining confidence certainly wasn't helped by the games Dallas played just before the game against Philadelphia. First, the Texans finished their road trip with a 3-6 loss to Vancouver, and then they also lost at home to Nashville 2-4 in the divisional confrontation.

The Flyers came to the game against Carolina after a 0-3 loss to Toronto and, of course, needed a decent result. And the team got their way. Philadelphia imposed a sloppy hockey on the Hurricanes, waited a long time for their chance and, having missed only one puck in two periods, shot a double in the third period to hold the advantage. Zack MacEwen scored the winning goal.

In fact, the game in Raleigh once again confirmed the effectiveness of Alain Vigneault's hockey. The Flyers, who are in a more or less optimal lineup and not bad shape, find it very difficult to score. And the defense is rightly said to win titles – Andrei Vasilevskiy's shutouts won't lie. So Philadelphia appears to be the kind of team that could surprise a lot this season.

• Dallas: Ben Bishop – not playing;
• Philadelphia: Tanner Laczynski, Ryan Ellis – not playing.

Dallas beat Philadelphia in 4 last matches at home.

Dallas really needs a win. It's not a matter of tournament interest, but of the team's poor mental state. There's little doubt that once the Stars win at least two games in a row, things will pick up for the Texans. In all likelihood, however, Rick Bowness' team will have another problem against Philadelphia, even despite their back-to-back losses. The Flyers are very good at breaking up the opponent's game, and in the case of today's Dallas, there isn't much to break.

Prediction: Philadelphia will claim victory. The Flyers, in particular, are favored by Carter Hart’s great backup in the face of Martin Jones. In 3 games in the current league, the 32-year-old goaltender has only a 1.67 passer rating and more than 95% reflected shots.

• Philadelphia Not To Lose for 1.74;
• Philadelphia Not To Lose + Total Under (6.5) for 2.70;
• Philadelphia Not To Lose for 1.63.