The Minnesota Wild (12-6-0) visit the Vegas Golden Knights (12-4-1) for a two-game set beginning Monday with a 10 p.m. ET puck drop at T-Mobile Arena. Below, we analyze the Wild-Golden Knights odds and lines, with NHL picks and predictions.
The surprising Wild have won six straight games to surge into second place in the West Division. The late-February run followed six postponements due to COVID-19 protocols.
The Golden Knights have back-to-back wins bracketing a pair of postponed games against the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. They beat the Ducks 3-2 in overtime Saturday.
Vegas remains ahead of Minnesota in the West Division. These two games at T-Mobile Arena are their first clashes of the season.
Wild at Golden Knights: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 9:42 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Wild +120 (bet $100 to win $120) | Golden Knights -140 (bet $140 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Wild +1.5 (-250) | Golden Knights -1.5 (+190)
- Over/Under: 5.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)
Wild at Golden Knights: Projected starting goalies
Cam Talbot (4-2-0, .926 SV%, 2.19 GAA) at Marc-Andre Fleury (9-3-0, .941 SV%, 1.59 GAA)
Talbot returned from a lengthy layoff due to COVID protocols to stop 27 of 28 shots in a win over the Los Angeles Kings Friday. Four of his seven appearances of the season were on the road; he has been slightly better there with a .928 save percentage compared to a .923 rate at home.
Fleury’s resurgent season has come with option 1B Robin Lehner sidelined by an upper-body injury since Feb. 7. “Flower” leads the NHL in save percentage and goals against average, and with 3 shutouts through 12 starts. He stopped 28 of 30 shots in the win over the Ducks Saturday.
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Wild at Golden Knights: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Golden Knights 4, Wild 2
Money line (ML)
The GOLDEN KNIGHTS (-140) are underpriced based on the Wild’s active winning streak. Both teams are at relatively full health and Fleury has a considerable advantage in the goaltending battle.
Analytically, the Golden Knights are 10th in the NHL in 5-on-5 Corsi For percentage (50.93%) and seventh with 52.88% of scoring chances at full strength in their games. The Wild are 26th and fourth, respectively, by those metrics.
The main cause for concern with Minnesota is a 5-on-5 shooting percentage of 9.93 ranking third in the NHL. Impending regression there makes for a fade of the Wild.
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Against the spread (ATS)
Included in Minnesota’s active winning streak are two wins apiece over the Ducks and Kings. They also beat the San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche by counts of 6-2, but it’s only the win over the Avs that can compare to this two-game test against the Golden Knights.
The Wild are last in the NHL with a 7.94 power-play percentage and the Knights are fourth with an 87.50 penalty-kill percentage. Factor in the special teams play as another advantage for the superior Golden Knights and back VEGAS -1.5 (+190) to win by 2 or more goals.
Over/Under (O/U)
Bet the OVER 5.5 (-115) as a correlating play to backing the Golden Knights on the puck line.
The Knights played to the Under in each of their last seven games but that run included two shutout wins for them and a game against the Ducks in which they were blanked 1-0.
Vegas will handle the bulk of the scoring in Talbot’s first true test since a Feb. 2 loss to the Avalanche.
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