Minnesota Wild at Tampa Bay Lightning odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Thursday’s Minnesota Wild at Tampa Bay Lightning sports betting odds and lines, with NHL betting picks, tips and best bets

The Minnesota Wild (13-11-4) visit the Tampa Bay Lightning (13-9-3) for a Thursday 7 p.m. ET tilt at Amalie Arena. We analyze the Wild-Lightning odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips around this matchup.

Wild at Lightning: Projected starting goalies

Alex Stalock vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy

Stalock owns a .912 save percentage on the season and a 2.67 goals against average. The 32-year-old has logged a .937 SV% mark over his last two starts. On the down side, Stalock has been much better at home (.946 SV% vs. .892 SV% road).

Vasilevskiy has posted a .908 SV% with a 2.90 GAA through 18 games. That’s a would-be career-low save percentage for the netminder who registered a .923 mark over the last two seasons. Vasilevskiy has not been particularly sharp at home, and he was iffy in two starts against the Wild last season.


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Wild at Lightning: 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 at 2 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Minnesota 3, Tampa Bay 2

Moneyline (ML)

The Lightning snapped a three-game losing streak in their last game, a 3-2 OT win at the Nashville Predators Tuesday. All three losses were of the one-goal variety. Tampa Bay had won three in a row – outscoring foes 15-6 before the short skid.

Minnesota comes in having won four straight, including two on the road. The Wild have been on a nice scoring tear, averaging 3.4 goals per game since Nov. 19. They yield too many shots at times, but they do a credible job in an exchange of shots from the slot, a higher-percentage shooting area. With the recents, the netminders and some solid underlying fundamentals, MINNESOTA +170 is the lean here.

New to sports betting? Every $1 wagered on the Wild will profit $1.70 if they win.

Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)

The puck line is MINNESOTA +1.5 -154. With the above noted and the fact that Vasilevskiy hasn’t been at his best, the Wild side has some value.

The Wild have done a nice job staying out of the box of late. That’s key against a club like the Lightning, which sports a 29% success rate on power plays (33% last four home games). Minnesota is 9-9 against the puck line on the road; Tampa Bay (-1.5, +125) is 5-6 against the line at home.

Over/under (O/U)

AVOID the O/U 5.5 (-150, +125). I’m not seeing any value here. Game flow predictions could play out on the Under enough to make value hard to find even on a price change.

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