Stars Now Favored to Win Series Against Predators After Game 1 Victory

• The Nashville Predators were 35-4-1 when scoring first in the regular season
• The Preds have never won a series after losing Game 1 (0-9)
• The Stars won Game 1 on the road, 3-2, and are now favored to win the series at -130

We saw a lot of surprising results in the first wave of playoff games, including the Dallas Stars, who went into Nashville and earned a narrow 3-2 win in Game 1 to steal home-ice advantage.

Now the oddsmakers list them as the favorites to win the series. Are the Stars a good bet at this point or should you wait for a better price?

Stars vs Predators Series Odds

*Odds taken 04/11/19

Stars Surprise Predators

The Stars won Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal, stealing home-ice advantage from the Nashville Predators. Immediately, the Stars were made the favorites to win the series because history simply isn’t on Nashville’s side. They’ve never won a series (0-9) after losing Game 1.

STARS WIN!!! Thanks to Miro’s 2 goals, the Stars take a 1-0 series lead on the road!! #GoStars pic.twitter.com/Zd2ada2yKc

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) April 11, 2019

The Predators were 35-4-1 when scoring first in the regular season this year and also 22-2-1 when leading after one period of play, so the Stars really stunned them.

Not So Much Of A Home-Ice Advantage?

What’s interesting with the Predators is that they haven’t played well at home in the playoffs of late. They’ve now dropped five of their last six playoff home games, which is surprising when you consider how high of a seed they’ve been in recent years.

Stars Are Dictating The Pace

It’s just one game but it looks like the pace of this matchup will suit Dallas just fine. Remember, the Stars are a defensive-minded team and they struggle to score goals. However, they make Game 1 into a tight, low-scoring affair and they managed to net three goals themselves.

Mats Zuccarello scored the game-winner in his first playoff skate with the @DallasStars – and is quite clearly hungry for more#GoStars | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/KkA52oqVZx

— FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) April 11, 2019

The challenge for Nashville is that their offense has labored. They scored just 2.38 goals per game in March (25^th in the NHL). They had the worst power play in the NHL heading into the playoffs and went 0-for-4 in Game 1. They don’t have the ability to change this pace and that suits the Stars just fine.

What’s The Best Bet?

If you like the Stars to win the series, I’d still wait to place my bet. They’re favored now that they stole Game 1 but Game 2 will be really tough on them. They’re probably happy with the split already.

As for the Predators, they are going to throw the kitchen sink at Dallas. The teams have two days off before Game 3 and you can bet that Nashville will be very focused in Game 2. They don’t often blow leads – as the stats have shown – and Game 1 seems to be a bit uncharacteristic of them.

MATS ZUCCARELLO SLAMS HOME THE JUICY REBOUND!#GoStars 3 – 1 #Preds
(Series Tied 0-0) pic.twitter.com/bTCkS8HWkq

— Hockey Daily #StickTogether (@HockeyDaily365) April 11, 2019

My bet would be to lay money on Nashville in Game 2 and then assuming they win, sprinkle a little bit of the winnings on the Stars to win the series at that point. You’ll get a better price. Then.

Is it possible that the Stars win on Saturday? Of course. However, I’m more of the opinion that they’re still very inexperienced with the playoffs, they’ll be facing a very experienced team with their backs up against the wall and the Stars should already be happy to have stolen home-ice advantage.