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Top NHL picks December 8: Tail Dallas’ puck line dominance

There are just five NHL games on Thursday, but that’s enough to create betting opportunities on team-based wagers and props.

The pregame narrative: The Dallas Stars have an established pattern of winning by comfortable margins, Mark Scheifele has himself a favorable matchup and the Detroit Red Wings could be firing against an offensively gifted club that allows plenty of shots.

Below are our NHL picks for December 8.

Odds as of 11:37 am on 12/08/2022.

NHL picks

Best Bet : Stars -1.5 (+128)

In most cases, these odds are pretty generous for a team with a .625 points percentage hosting a club with a .420 mark that had to make a 1908.7-kilometer trip.

When we’re dealing with Dallas, it’s even better. Every single Stars win has come by a multi-goal margin.

This trend has to end at some point, but we don’t see it happening against an Ottawa team that’s simply outclassed in this one. The Stars have scored 21 more goals than the Senators in 26 games while conceding nine fewer.

Dallas tends to take care of business against bottom feeders, too.

The Stars have just two losses against teams with a points percentage under .500. One of those came against the Senators in Ottawa, but it’s likely to be a different result in Dallas.

Key stats: Dallas has recorded a multi-goal win in 53.8% of its games this season.

Quick picks

Scheifele anytime goals (+155): These are appealing odds for a player who is tied for eighth in the NHL in scoring with 15 goals in 24 games.

Scheifele also has five tallies in his last five contests and scored against the St. Louis Blues in his last game versus them on October 24.

The Blues are an excellent matchup for the Winnipeg Jets star as they concede more goals to centers per game (1.38) than the NHL average (1.2) and allow the fourth-most goals per game in the league overall (3.85).

Red Wings over 29.5 shots (-112): Detroit doesn’t have a high-powered offense by any means, but this line looks low for a team that averages 30.4 shots per game and that has hit this over in four of its last six games.

The Red Wings are also a +160 underdog and facing a Florida Panthers club that concedes 31.9 shots per game. Detroit is likely to be trailing and forced to push the pace offensively.

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Nick Ashbourne writes about sports betting for NorthStar Bets. NorthStar Bets is owned by NordStar Capital, which also owns Torstar, the Star’s parent company. Follow him on Twitter: @NickAshbourne

Disclaimer This content was produced as part of a partnership and therefore it may not meet the standards of impartial or independent journalism.

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