Winnipeg Jets vs. Dallas Stars Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/11/2022

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Venue: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

Where to watch: BSSW, TSN3

DraftKings: Stars -165, Jets +130

WynnBet: Stars -160, Jets +135 

Caesars: Stars -150, Jets +130

Jets: 19-17-7

Stars: 24-18-2

As someone who has watched the Dallas Stars for many years, I can tell you this is one of the weirder seasons yet. Forget reaching the Stanley Cup Final in a bubble and forget everything you thought you knew before.

 

When Joe Pavelski is leading your team in scoring, things are about as weird as they could possibly be for this Stars team that is currently in position for a playoff spot.

 

Dallas will play its second game out of the All-Star break on Friday when they take on the Winnipeg Jets at home. It's a big game within the central division for both teams. Dallas finds itself in 5th place in the division and currently sitting a few points out of a wild card spot. Winnipeg, still with some life in them, is five points back of Dallas but plenty of time to play catch up.

 

The Stars have won six of their last eight games and are coming off a 4-3 victory on Wednesday against the Nashville Predators at home. Second-year phenom Jason Robertson scored two goals, and Roope Hintz added a goal and an assist for Dallas. Luke Glendening scored the winning goal 3:24 into the third.

 

“Where we’ve put ourselves, we have to have a high level of desperation,” Glendening said. “Sometimes that’s what it takes. I was probably out of position honestly, if I’m on my belly, but sometimes that’s how it goes.”

 

That level of desperation has pulled Dallas from out of the basement of the standings from earlier in the season, and has put them in contention to really make some noise in the central division. And a big part of that has to do with their 36-year-old leading scorer, who is coming off being the captain of the central division squad during the All-Star game in Las Vegas this past week.

 

Pavelski is on pace for the best season of his long-storied career. He's always been a dominant net-front presence, that's never been disputed when it comes to evaluating his game. But the biggest thing when it comes to Dallas over the past few years has been it's inability to get scoring in a timely manner. With Pavelski leading the way with 29 assists, they are getting scoring at the right time.

 

Robertson is continuing his great pace from his rookie season with 43 points in 36 games. Hintz leads the way with 21 goals in 42 games and is also nearing a point-per-game pace. No other Dallas player is in the 30 point range, but surprisingly that's OK. 

 

Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have combined for 43 points with both playing 44 games. If those two can pick things up heading into the second half of the season, Dallas will have plenty of weapons at its disposal in attempt to help young goalie Jake Oettinger as the season progresses.

 

And it strongly helps that the Jets have not played as well to close the first half of the season. Winnipeg comes in having lost seven of nine but started out of the All-Star break with a shutout victory at home against the Minnesota Wild. Connor Hellebuyck had 27 saves, and Nate Schmidt scored for Winnipeg in what was a crucial victory for the Jets.

 

You can expect Hellebuyck to get the start again on Friday in this matchup, which should be a very good goaltending duel, but the Stars are playing with a purpose right now and the young guys are able to come at you in waves. Right now it's hard to discount what the Stars are doing, and I think on home ice they will take advantage. Stars win 4-2

The Jets are 78-58 after losing five or six of their last seven games.

The Jets are 111-99 off a home win.

The Stars are 10-2 this season after playing a division game.

Jets:

Kyle Connor -- Andrew Copp -- Cole Perfetti

Paul Stastny -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler

Evgeny Svechnikov -- Adam Lowry -- Kristian Reichel

Jansen Harkins -- Dominic Toninato -- Kristian Vesalainen

Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo

Brenden Dillon -- Nate Schmidt

Declan Chisolm -- Johnathan Kovacevic

Connor Hellebuyck

Stars:

Jason Robertson -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Denis Gurianov

Joel Kiviranta -- Jacob Peterson -- Alexander Radulov

Michael Raffl -- Radek Faksa -- Luke Glendening

Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg

Ryan Suter -- Miro Heiskanen

Joel Hanley -- Jani Hakanpaa

Jake Oettinger