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The Minnesota Wild (21-10-4) visit the Dallas Stars (20-13-0) on Friday. Puck drop from the American Airlines Center is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s NHL odds around the Wild vs. Stars nickname odds and make our expert NHL picks and predictions.
Season series: Stars lead 1-0
The NHL schedule restarts after a 3-day breather, and these Central Division clubs meet for the first time since Nov. 16, when the Stars triumphed 2-1 on the back of a 2-goal night from LW Mason Marchment.
Both clubs snapped a skid Monday before the vacation: Minnesota survived a charge from the last-place Chicago Blackhawks in its 4-3 victory to halt a 5-game losing streak. Dallas broke a 2-game slide with a 3-2 win over the Utah Hockey Club.
Wild LW Kirill Kaprizov is tied for second in the NHL with 23 goals and tied for fourth with 50 points, but his firepower might be overshadowed by a potentially stellar goaltending matchup between Minnesota’s Filip
Gustavsson and Dallas’ Jake Oettinger.
Read on to see how bettors should budget for this clash between the Central’s second-place Wild and fourth-place Stars.
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Wild at Stars odds
Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of NHL odds. Lines last updated at 12:38 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Wild +140 (bet $100 to win $140) | Stars -165 (bet $165 to win $100)
- Puck line (PL)/Against the spread (ATS): Wild +1.5 (-185) | Stars -1.5 (+150)
- Over/Under (O/U): 6 (O: +100 | U: -120)
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Wild at Stars projected goalies
Filip Gustavsson (15-5-3, 2.28 GAA, .921 SV%) vs. Jake Oettinger (16-9-0, 2.42 GAA, .910 SV%)
Neither goaltender is confirmed as of this initial writing. However, thanks to the extended break, both No. 1 netminders should suit up, barring last-minute complications.
Gustavsson ranks third in SV% and fourth in GAA. The Swede has proven rusty, though, having allowed between 3 and 5 goals in each of his past 3 outings, including 3 in his Monday return from a lower-body injury that cost him 4 games.
Oettinger has found better fortune lately, allowing 1 or 2 goals in 3 of his past 4 games. The Boston University alum’s biggest hiccup was a 4-tally loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, during which he was potentially suffering from flu-like symptoms.
Dallas could roll with Casey DeSmith (4-4-0, 2.42, .910) instead and remain in solid shape between the pipes.
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Wild at Stars picks and predictions
Prediction
Stars 3, Wild 2
Moneyline
These division rivals have a razor-thin margin separating them — especially in Moneypuck’s xGoals% team rankings, which place Dallas eighth (55.5) and Minnesota 10th (52.33).
Let’s act strongly based on a trend, for once, by backing the Stars’ home cooking (13-5 at AAC this season). We’ll also emphasize Dallas’ power-play advantage (92.16% xGoals ranks them 4th, while Minnesota’s 90.22% sits 13th).
BET STARS -165.
Puck line/Against the spread
Both clubs have fallen short on the puck line (Minnesota 16-19, Dallas 14-19), but there’s no fun in rooting for a push.
The aforementioned slim difference between these clubs puts the favored spread in play. The uninspiring juice does not make this an alluring bet, but grabbing the more logical result with a lower potential reward will make sense to some bettors.
BET WILD +1.5 (-180).
Over/Under
In what would be this game’s best bet, all things equal, ride the goaltending on both sides to limit tallies and fade the total.
BetMGM offers the chance at a push with a whole-number total. If you want to be bolder for a true win-or-lose, risk-reward result, FanDuel Sportsbook offers Under 5.5 (+104).
BET UNDER 6 (-120) at BetMGM or BET UNDER 5.5 (+104) at FanDuel.
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