The Minnesota Wild are going into a funk at the wrong time as their chances of getting a wild-card spot in the Western Conference continues to dwindle. They make their only visit of the season to defending Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals on Friday, with the home side as sizable NHL betting favorites.
How to Bet Wild vs Capitals NHL Week 25 Odds & Game Info
Bruce Boudreau talks about Thursday’s spirited practice and heading into this weekend’s games. pic.twitter.com/LYGg3nWsLR
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) 21 de marzo de 2019
- When: Friday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Capital One Arena
- TV: NHL Center Ice
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- NHL Week 25 Odds: Washington Capitals -170 / Minnesota Wild +145 (Total 6)
Season Series
Washington tries for the sweep as it was a 5-2 home winner over Minnesota on Nov. 13. In his first game off a suspension, the Caps’ Tom Wilson had a first-period goal … an eventually a fight. Dmitry Orlov had his two goals and an assist, Andre Burakovsky and T.J. Oshie also scored and Pheonix Copley made 26 saves for the Capitals. Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise had goals for the Wild. Parise’s goal was the only tally for Minnesota in six power-play opportunities. Devan Dubnyk stopped 28 shots for the Wild, who had 22 of their 28 shots in the second half of the game.
It was the eighth straight win by the Capitals over the Wild, whose last win in the series was at Washington on March 5, 2015. All but one of the victories by the Capitals during the streak have come in regulation.
Why Bet on Minnesota?
The Wild lost their second straight on Tuesday, 3-1 to Colorado. Philipp Grubauer made 36 saves in a game that had playoff implications in Minnesota and elsewhere. Minnesota had several chances to tie the game in the second, including a few looks by Jason Zucker. The Wild forward missed a wide-open net on a backhander and had another shot just miss the net as it slid through the crease.
Zach Parise had the lone Wild goal. Ryan Suter had a wrister towards goal but it was Parise who redirected it in behind Grubauer. It’s a three-game point streak for Parise, with goals in back-to-back to get the 34-year-old winger to 26 goals and 58 points in 72 games this season.
Devan Dubnyk allowed two goals on 37 shots. Dubynk didn’t have much of a chance on Tyson Barrie’s opening goal of the game. Minnesota’s goaltender was then beat on a Tyson Jost breakaway midway through the second period. The 32-year-old goaltender has lost four of his last five starts, dropping his record to 28-25-6 with a 2.59 goals-against-average and a .912 save percentage.
Minnesota plays four of its next five games on the road. The Wild are 19-15-2 away from St. Paul this season. Jared Spurgeon has established career highs in points (41) and goals (14) this season. He owns 22 points (10-12=22) in the last 36 games and ranks T-1st amongst NHL defensemen in goals since Jan. 3. Since Dec. 15, he ranks sixth in the NHL in TOI/game at 25:38.
The defenseman leads the team in blocked shots (126), plus/minus rating and shorthanded TOI, second in TOI/game (T-20th in NHL) and fifth in scoring, assists, and shots on goal. Ryan Donato owns 13 points (4-9=13) and a plus-6 rating in 14 games with the Wild and leads NHL rookies in scoring since Feb. 21.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.70
- Shots: 31.58
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.81
Defense
- Goals: 2.93
- Shots: 29.36
- PP/PK Percentage: 19.55
Why Bet on Washington?
The Capitals lost 5-4 in OT at home to league-best Tampa Bay on Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s East Finals. Andrei Vasilevskiy made a franchise-record 54 saves, and NHL scoring leader Nikita Kucherov scored twice. Victor Hedman scored 3:01 into overtime. Vasilevskiy was on top of his game as Washington set a franchise record with 58 shots and allowed Tampa Bay just 28. He stopped countryman Alex Ovechkin 11 times in one of the finest performances of his career.
At five-on-five, the Capitals showed they could play with the high-octane Lightning, dominating the Bolts for stretches of the game, and pouring shots toward Vasilevskiy in volume. The Lightning’s league-leading power play that hadn’t scored in two games went 3 for 3, and their penalty kill was 5 for 6, thanks in large part to Vasilevskiy. The Capitals picked up a point to build on their division lead because of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s tying goal with 52.6 seconds left.
Lars Eller scored a goal and assisted on another in Wednesday’s loss. In nine games that Carl Hagelin has joined Eller and Brett Connolly on the third line, the trio has combined for eight goals. Eller took advantage of a terrible Lightning giveaway right outside the blueline to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy top-shelf on a partial break. The 29-year-old Eller is up to 12 goals and 35 points in 73 games this season.
Braden Holtby allowed five goals on 28 shots. The 29-year-old goaltender has now lost back-to-back games, dropping his record to 27-18-5 with a 2.95 goals-against-average and a .907 save percentage.
Defenseman Michal Kempny suffered a lower body injury during a scuffle along the wall by the Capitals bench, slamming into the boards and then tussling to the ice. He didn’t return. Not yet clear of his status going forward but he’s expected out at least a few games. Kempny struggled to get over the Capitals bench, and appeared to not put any pressure on his left leg. Kempny has skated on the second pairing with John Carlson for a majority of the season. He has six goals and 19 assists in 71 games.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.46
- Shots: 30.65
- PP/PK Percentage: 21.56
Defense
- Goals: 3.12
- Shots: 31.72
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.97
Wild vs Capitals NHL Week 25 Betting Trends
- Home team is 16-7 in the last 23 meetings
- Favorite is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings
- Under is 6-1-1 in the last 8 meetings in Washington
- Minnesota is 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games on the road
- Minnesota is 5-2 SU in its last 7 games on the road
- The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Minnesota’s last 16 games
- Washington is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home
- Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington’s last 8 games at home
Expert Final Score Prediction for Wild vs Capitals
Minnesota Wild 2 – Washington Capitals 3
