A ton of Minnesotans are in Florida right now for the winter or spring break, and the state’s NHL team visits South Florida for the only time this season on Friday night looking for the season sweep. The Florida Panthers, though, will be slight NHL odds favorites against the Minnesota Wild.

How to Bet Wild vs Panthers NHL Odds & Game Info

Bruce Boudreau calls it Devan Dubnyk’s best game as #mnwild bests Tampa 3-0. pic.twitter.com/nGhrFDterJ

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) 8 de marzo de 2019

• When: Friday, 7 PM ET
• Where: BB& Center
• TV: NHL Center Ice
• Live Stream: NHL.tv
• NHL Odds: TBA

Season Series

The Wild try for the sweep as they beat visiting Florida 5-1 on Dec. 13. Nino Niederreiter scored twice, Ryan Suter had three assists and Devan Dubnyk finished with 30 saves. Eric Staal, Zach Parise, and Jonas Brodin also scored for Minnesota.

Denis Malgin scored 2:20 into the game for Florida on a rebound Dubnyk kicked wide and the Panthers outshot Minnesota 13-8 in the first. James Reimer stopped 21 shots for the Panthers. The Wild are 10-0-1 at home against the Panthers, their longest active home point streak against any team.

Why Bet on Minnesota?

The Wild entered Thursday’s likely loss at Tampa Bay on a two-game skid. Center Victor Rask (lower body) skated Thursday morning but didn’t play Thursday. He plans to take it day-by-day and continue to monitor how he feels. Coach Bruce Boudreau anticipates Rask could be back in game action next week.

“It’s just nice to be out here with the guys and get some passes,” Rask said. He has two goals and eight points in 36 contests this season. Rask was hurt Feb. 12 vs. Philadelphia.

Zach Parise leads the Wild in road scoring with 33 points (15-18=33), Eric Staal is second with 26 points (8-18=26) and Jared Spurgeon is third with 18 points (9-9=18).

Parise leads the Wild with 55 points (24-31=55). The forward tallied his 30th assist of the season at WPG (2/26) – his first 30-assist season since 2011-12 and sixth of his career. He has reached the 50-plus point milestone in nine of his 14 NHL seasons. 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). He also leads the Wild in goals, PPG (8) and shots on goal, ranks T-2nd in PPP (13) and multi-point games (11), third in assists and T3rd in GWG (4). Parise ranks fourth amongst NHL forwards in blocked shots (65).

Spurgeon has established career highs in points (39) and goals (12) this season. His goal total ranks T-5th in team history by a defenseman (Burns, 17). Spurgeon ranks second in PPG (24) by a Wild defenseman in franchise history (Burns, 26). The blueliner owns 20 points (8-12=20) and a plus-11 rating in the last 29 games, ranking T-2nd amongst NHL defensemen in goals and T-7th in scoring since Jan. 3.

Team Stats

• Goals: 2.78
• Shots: 31.57
• PP/PK Percentage: 20.30

Defense

• Goals: 2.88
• Shots: 29.38
• PP/PK Percentage: 19.81

Why Bet on Florida?

The Panthers entered Thursday’s likely loss in Boston on a five-game losing streak. With Roberto Luongo starting Thursday, it could be Sam Montembeault here with normal backup James Reimer (13-11-5, 3.02 GAA, .902 SV) hurt.

Since he was drafted by the Panthers in the third round of the 2015 NHL Draft, Montembeault has been known as the future between the pipes for the team. For the past two seasons, he had played for the Panthers’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

He finally got his NHL debut last Saturday and Montembeault allowed four goals on 26 shots in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Montembeault’s defense did not do him any favors, giving the Hurricanes two great opportunities in the opening couple of minutes to give Carolina a 2-0 lead. The Panthers fought back for three straight goals but ended up losing in OT. On the game-winning goal, there was no chance for the Quebec native to stop it from entering the net, as he was all alone and did the best he could to stretch across and cover the net.

After fracturing his right ankle on Nov. 19 in Ottawa, Vincent Trocheck recently said that he’s starting to feel like his old self after sitting out 27 games while recovering. In 21 games since rejoining the lineup, the 25-year-old center has accumulated four goals, eight assists and has a plus-5 rating.

Mike Hoffman leads the Panthers with a career-high 30 goals. Of those scores, a team-leading 13 have come on the power play, which matches his career-high. The 29-year-old winger has also notched 14 points (five goals, nine assists) over his last 11 games.

Aleksander Barkov leads Florida with 68 points, including nine goals and six assists over his last 10 games played. The 23-year-old needs just one more goal to surpass the career-high 28 he posted in 2015-16 and 11 more points to eclipse the career-high 78 he recorded last season.

Keith Yandle leads all Panthers defensemen in points (52) and assists (43). The 32-year-old also stands tied for third in the NHL in power-play points (32), while his career-high seven power-play goals are the most among all NHL blueliners.

Team Stats

• Goals: 3.16
• Shots: 33.16
• PP/PK Percentage: 26.64

Defense

• Goals: 3.45
• Shots: 30.81
• PP/PK Percentage: 18.95

Wild vs Panthers NHL Betting Trends

• Over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings
• Home team is 7-1 in the last 8 meetings
• Favorite is 8-1 in the last 9 meetings
• Minnesota is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
• Minnesota is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
• The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Minnesota’s last 7 games on the road
• Florida is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games at home
• Florida is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing Minnesota
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Florida’s last 6 games at home

Expert NHL Betting Prediction

Wild 2 – Panthers 3