NHL 2023/24 Play-offs, Conference Finals, Game 4 on Thursday, 02.04.2024
Unfortunately, Leon Draisaitl was unable to support the German national ice hockey team at the recently concluded World Championships in the Czech Republic. But things are going all the better for his Oilers in the 2024 NHL playoffs. At least until a few days ago.
The Texans are currently 2:1 ahead, so everyone in Edmonton knows what’s going on. In my Oilers Stars betting tip, I expect the home side to unleash their powerful offense once again, even if I wouldn’t automatically deduce a win from that …
The Dallas Stars have managed to keep the Oilers’ dangerous offense somewhat in check so far.
With 234 goals conceded in the regular season, the Texans are certainly one of the better defenses in the NHL, but in the playoffs they have gone one better.
Leon Draisaitl only scored one goal in the 3-2 opening win of this series. In the subsequent 1:3 and 3:5 defeats of his Oilers, on the other hand, the Cologne native came away completely empty-handed. That’s an extremely rare occurrence
Leon Draisaitl had scored at least one point in every single game of the play-offs up until Game 2 of this series. The fact that he has now gone two games in a row without a goal or assist is therefore an extremely rare occurrence from a statistical point of view.
A goal from Cologne tonight is currently associated with odds of around 2.30 by bookmakers such as Bet365. And even if Draisaitl seems to be having a bit of a slump at the moment, I wouldn’t advise against it.
Especially as the Oilers led the shots on goal statistics in Game 3 by 30:22 and clearly had more of the play. Only a mediocre performance by their own goalie and extremely efficient Texans prevented them from taking the lead in this series
Bitter for the Oilers is certainly the fact that they have fired more shots on goal than Dallas not only in the most recent clash, but in all three games so far (38:33, 29:25 and most recently 30:22).
Consequently, with a bit of luck, it could have been 2-1 in favor of the Oilers. At the very least, I expect the tie to be possible tonight in this series.
The Canadiens know what they’re up against, and traveling to Dallas with another loss in the bag would soon turn out to be a hopeless endeavor.
Consequently, I expect Edmonton to have a “now or never” attitude tonight.
In any case, the oddsmakers also believe the Canadiens will tie the game. Their Oilers Stars odds of 2.20 to 2.77 on average show that the home side have a slight advantage in terms of a possible win.
For my part, I’m making a special ice hockey bet for tonight, which has an excellent chance of success. Of course, I could pick an Oilers win or a long overdue goal from Leon Draisaitl.
But there’s one particular bet on offer from Betano that I’m particularly keen on…
The Oilers have always scored at least three goals in their last seven home playoff games, but the outliers have been remarkable at times.
They scored 7 goals against the Los Angeles Kings in the 1st round, for example, and 5 against the Canucks’ stout defense in the 2nd round.
Overall, the EDM scoring average at Rogers Place is as high as 4.83 per game, so I’m selecting a special bet that the Oilers will score over 2.5 goals tonight.
The odds are manageable at 1.50, but a good basis for further combination bets.
Based on this, the aforementioned recommendation to consider a goal bet on Draisaitl could be used as an additional option to increase the potential winnings.
Bold suggestion anyone? The combination of the events “EDM wins”, “Draisaitl scores” and “EDM scores at least three goals” promises great odds of currently 3.45.
Conclusion: The Canadians know that they have to win this game at all costs. In any case, the offense can’t be blamed for the Texans being up 2-1 games.
Incidentally, Leon Draisaitl is far too dangerous an attacker to expect the Cologne native to go a third play-off game in a row without scoring.
In general, it is highly likely that Edmonton will make an extra effort tonight to avoid another loss in this important game.
Accordingly, my Oilers Stars tip for tonight is: EDM scores over 2.5 goals.
