This is an 8* play on COLORADO

Colorado is enjoying a strong start to the season. They are 8-2-2 and lead the Central Division with 18 points. Tonight they will play host to a Dallas team whose nine losses are tied for most in the league. Seems like a mismatch to us.It's fair to call this a mismatch even though the Avalanche have lost two straight games. Both were at home, the last one (Wednesday vs. Anaheim) coming in overtime. They were pretty decent sized favorites for both of those games. It's hard for us to imagine them losing three in a row as home favorites. Dallas has won 4 of 5. But the last four games were all played at home. The Stars have yet to really look good on the road where they are averaging just 24.9 shots per game. Also, before this 4-1 stretch, they hadn't won a single time in regulation all year. We're looking at the big picture here, not falling for recency bias. The big problem for Colorado right now is injuries as two of their top three players (Landeskog and Rantanen) are out. But they still held a two goal lead in the third period against Anaheim. They should have won. The Stars scored a season-high six goals in their most recent game. But they still are averaging just 2.2 goals/game for the year. Colorado averages 3.9. Play on COLORADO

AAA