Devils vs Stars Prediction & Odds (Oct 27)

Two Teams Sitting in the Exact Same Spot

New Jersey is 4-4-0. Dallas is 4-3-1. Both clubs sit 5th of 8 in their division, the Devils in the Metropolitan and the Stars in the Central. And the man leading Dallas in scoring, Mikko Rantanen at 8, is being outproduced by the visiting center, Jack Hughes at 9. That is the tension in this one. The home team has the building and the reputation. The road team has the hotter number one player and a thinner opponent down the middle.

The Matchup

The New Jersey Devils visit the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 8:00 PM ET at American Airlines Center. Those records are as of this writing, not final marks entering puck drop, and both will move before the teams actually meet. The season series starts here on 10/27, which means no head-to-head data exists yet for either side to lean on. For anyone new to hockey records: the 4-4-0 and 4-3-1 formats read as wins, regulation losses, then overtime or shootout losses. That third number is worth a point in the standings, which is why Dallas sits slightly ahead of New Jersey despite playing the same eight games.

Players to Watch

Hughes at 9 is the engine of everything New Jersey does well. When he is driving play, the Devils generate chances in bunches and the rest of the lineup gets easier minutes. Rantanen at 8 is the Dallas answer, a heavy, puck-dominant winger who tilts a game by holding the zone rather than by racing through it. In a Stars vs Devils matchup this evenly matched on paper, the gap is one point between the two leaders. Whichever one gets the softer defensive assignment usually decides which way the night tips.

The Numbers

Odds are not posted for this game yet, so we are not going to pretend to quote a price. Here is what to read when they do appear. The moneyline is the straight bet on who wins, overtime and shootout included. The puck line is hockey's spread, almost always set at 1.5 goals, so the favorite must win by two or more and the underdog can lose by exactly one and still cash.

The total, also called the over/under, is the combined goals by both teams. Every price carries vig, the small built-in commission the sportsbook charges, which is why the two sides of a bet never add up cleanly to 100 percent. Strip that commission out and you get the no-vig number, the market-implied probability with the house edge removed. It is not truth. It is the market's read, cleaned up.

Where the Value Is

Without posted prices there is no honest expected value math to run, and expected value (the average result of a bet repeated many times, measured per $100 risked) is the only thing we grade ourselves on. So this is a matchup lean, not a priced play. We like the New Jersey Devils moneyline. Hughes leads the scoring battle, the Devils' injuries are concentrated on the depth forwards, and Dallas is missing a legitimate top-six center. If the Devils open anywhere near a fair underdog number, we take it. Check three or four books before clicking. A small difference in price is the whole margin in a game this close.

Injuries

Six names total. Dallas has three on Injured Reserve: Oskar Back, Matt Duchene and Luke Krys. Duchene is the one that matters most, a real scoring center subtracted from the middle six. New Jersey also has three: Anthony Brown and Nick Bjugstad on Injured Reserve, plus Anthony Mantha listed day-to-day, which simply means his status is unresolved and worth rechecking on game day.

The Pick

Devils vs Stars, we lean New Jersey Devils moneyline. No price to quote yet, so the instruction is the price: wait for the number, then take the best one on the board across books. This is Desk analysis, not a documented official play.

The Prediction

We project New Jersey 4, Dallas 3. Hughes gets a point or two, the Devils win the special teams exchange, and the missing Dallas center shows up in the third period when the matchups tighten. That is the read on this number; the Desk posts a documented free play on days like this, and it sits right below.