One losing streak will end Friday night in Sin City as the Minnesota Wild carry a two-game slide into Las Vegas, while the Golden Knights have dropped their past three. Vegas will be solidly favored to end the skid on the NHL betting lines.
How to Bet Wild vs Golden Knights NHL Hockey Odds & TV Info
Bruce Boudreau and Brad Hunt chat with media after #mnwild practices on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/1FTOQTAa8t
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) 28 de marzo de 2019
- When: Friday, 10 PM ET
- Where: T-Mobile Arena
- TV: NHL Center Ice
- Live Stream: NHL.tv
- Opening NHL Lines: Vegas Golden Knights -190 (Total 5.5)
Season Series
Teams have split two meetings, each winning on the road. They last met Jan. 21 in Vegas and the Wild pulled off the 4-2 upset. Charlie Coyle scored the -winning goal of the season with 5:31 remaining. With the puck lose in front of the net, Jared Spurgeon sent a perfect pass to Coyle, who beat Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury with a high shot that put the Wild in front. Marcos Foligno, Eric Staal, and Mikko Koivu also scored for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves. Alex Tuch and Max Pacioretty scored for the Golden Knights, while Fleury made 18 saves.
Minnesota, which is 4-0-1 against the Golden Knights since they entered the league, is 2-0-0 in Vegas.
Why Bet on Minnesota?
The Wild’s playoff hopes are dying because they haven’t won back-to-back games in nearly a month. They have been outscored 6-1 in losing two straight games. It was 1-0 at home vs. Nashville on Monday so at least the players are well-rested. With 1:30 to play and an extra skater on the ice, Ryan Donato found himself 1-on-1 with Juuse Saros in the left faceoff circle. Donato’s wrist shot beat the goalie but hit the crossbar, leaving Donato inches from scoring the game-tying goal. Donato owns 15 points (4-11=15) in 17 games with the Wild and leads NHL rookies in scoring since Feb. 21.
“That sort of epitomizes the way it was going, and the season,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Getting chances to score and not burying them.” Minnesota is 2-7-1 in its last 10 games and 2-8-4 in its last 14 home games. The Wild have scored just four goals in their last four games.
Devan Dubnyk allowed one goal on 19 shots. It’s back-to-back losses for the 32-year-old goaltender, who is 29-27-6 with a 2.58 goals-against-average and a .912 save percentage.
Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body) is slated to be a game-time decision on Friday, per Boudreau. Eriksson Ek was on the ice for Monday’s morning skate, but he didn’t play against Nashville. Zach Parise (lower body) skated on his own this week but is iffy to play Friday.
Parise has tallied four points (2-2=4) in his last four games played and leads the Wild with 59 points (26-33=59) in 73 games this season. Parise has recorded 10 or more shots three times this season, the most by an NHL player. He tallied a career-high and tied the franchise record with 11 shots vs. ANA (1/17).
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.64
- Shots: 31.40
- PP/PK Percentage: 20.52
Defense
- Goals: 2.91
- Shots: 29.18
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.86
Why Bet on Vegas?
The Knights dropped their third in a row Wednesday, 4-3 in Colorado, but should make the playoffs regardless. They need just one point as of this writing to clinch a spot.
The Golden Knights fell into a 3-0 hole vs. the Avs and couldn’t recover. The Golden Knights were listless to open the game, surrendering two goals and getting outshot 12-8. Colorado scored before Vegas had a shot on goal, and two goals before Vegas had as many shots.
Alex Tuch made it a 4-3 game with 3:23 left when he knocked in a puck out of the air. Vegas pulled Malcolm Subban with just over a minute left and had several chances, only to be denied by Philipp Grubauer. With 7.6 seconds remaining, Nathan MacKinnon was called for holding the stick and the Golden Knights had a 6-on-4 opportunity. Jonathan Marchessault had a chance in the waning seconds but sent his shot just wide of the net.
Tuch scored that goal with an assist and five shots on net in the loss. Tuch has registered four goals with eight points and a plus-6 rating in 12 games during the month of March after failing to light the lamp in February. He has racked up 20 goals with 51 points and a plus-13 rating, career highs across the board. Reilly Smith’s hot streak continued as he collected his fifth goal in the last five games.
Subban allowed four goals on 30 shots. Subban was making his sixth consecutive start in place of the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, slipping to 3-2-1 during the span. He’ll face the visiting Wild on Friday night unless Fleury is ready to come off the shelf. Not likely.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.09
- Shots: 34.43
- PP/PK Percentage: 17.94
Defense
- Goals: 2.77
- Shots: 29.10
- PP/PK Percentage: 18.52
Wild vs Golden Knights NHL Betting Trends
- Over is 3-1-1 in the last 5 meetings
- Minnesota is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games
- Minnesota is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Minnesota’s last 5 games
- Vegas is 5-10 ATS in its last 15 games at home
- Vegas is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Vegas’s last 5 games at home
Expert Prediction for the Wild vs Golden Knights
Minnesota Wild 2 – Vegas Golden Knights 3
