NHL Western Conference Semifinals Begin Tonight

On Friday, the NHL Western Conference semifinals get under way when the Dallas Stars host the St. Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks host the Nashville Predators.

St. Louis vs. Dallas

During the regular season, St. Louis led the series 4-1 with the over/under 1-4.

Over the past 10 games between the two teams, St. Louis is 3-7 SU

The UNDER has cashed in 6 of the past 8 games between the two teams.

The road team is 6-4 SU over the past 10 games between the teams.

Dallas is 14-6 SU overall in its past 20 games, 10-3 SU in its past 13 games as the favorite and 8-1 SU over its past 9 games played at home.

Kari Lehtonen the starting goalie for Dallas has 9 wins in his past 11 starts. Versus St. Louis during his career, Lehtonen is 13-9 with a goals against average of 2.09.

St. Louis is 7-2-3 during its past 12 games. The goal difference has been 1 in 7 of the past 9 games played by St. Louis.

Brian Elliott the starting goalie for St. Louis is 16-5 over his past 21 starts. He has a career record versus Dallas of 6-4 with a goal against average of 2.75.

Odds for the series winner vary depending upon what site you look at, but a consensus has Dallas +105 and St. Louis favored at -125.

Prediction: St. Louis in six games

Nashville vs. San Jose

Nashville leads the season series 2-1. The over/under was 1-2 on the season.

The UNDER has cashed in 7 of the past 10 games between the two. The home team is 4-2 over the past 6 games between the teams.

San Jose has won 9 of its past 12 games played overall. The Sharks have won six straight on the road and 13 of their past 16 road games overall.

Martin Jones the San Jose starting goalie is 6-3 over his past 9 starts. Against Nashville in his career, he is 0-4 with a 3.63 GAA.

Nashville has won 6 of its past 9 games as the favorite, 4 of its past 10 road games and 7 of its past 24 games as the dog.

Pekke Rinne the Nashville goalie has won 6 of his past 9 starts. Rinne lifetime verses St. Louis is 10-9 with a GAA of 1.80.

Prediction: San Jose in seven games