The Minnesota Wild (18-15-5) visit the Colorado Avalanche (23-11-3) Friday for an 8 p.m. ET puck drop at Pepsi Center as they emerge from their holiday break. We analyze the Wild-Avalanche sports betting odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips and picks around this matchup.
Wild at Avalanche: Projected starting goalies
Devan Dubnyk vs. Philipp Grubauer
Dubnyk is 6-8-2 through 15 starts and two relief appearances with an .897 save percentage and 3.19 goals against average. He got the win in each of his last two starts before the break and recorded his first shutout of the season by stopping all 22 shots against the Calgary Flames Monday.
Grubauer entered the break on a personal three-game losing streak, dropping his season record to 10-8-2 through 21 starts. He has a .913 SV% and 2.86 GAA.
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Wild at Avalanche: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated Friday at 1:25 p.m. ET.
Prediction
Wild 3, Avalanche 2
Moneyline (ML)
The WILD (+165) come out of the break with the hotter goaltender and are a good value at plus-money. The Avalanche (-200) remain without star defenseman Cale Makar and they slumped into the breaking having won just two of their last five games. The Avs are 10-5-2 at home for the season while the Wild are 8-13-2 on the road. The Avalanche beat the Wild 4-2 in Denver Oct. 5, while the Wild responded with a 3-2 win over the Avs at home Nov. 21.
Both teams have sub-50% Corsi ratings (percent of all shot attempts) at 5-on-5, but the Wild take the edge in scoring chances at 50.99% to the Avs’ 49.90. The visitors are in a good spot for the upset.
New to sports betting? A successful $10 bet on the Wild to win in regulation, overtime or a shootout returns a profit of $16.50.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
The WILD (+1.5, -162) can be hedged on the spread, where they’ll need to stay within 1 goal in a loss or win outright. Minnesota is 19-19 against the spread overall and 12-11 on the road. Colorado is 23-14 overall but just 9-8 on home ice.
Over/Under (O/U)
Take the UNDER 5.5 (+110) with plus-money and the Wild needing to win a tight, low-scoring game. The Wild went 5-4-1 against the Over/Under across their last 10 games while the Avs went 4-6-0 against the projected totals. The season’s first two meetings between the Wild and Avalanche played to totals of 6 and 5 goals.
Esten’s NHL betting record: 142-111
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