The Wild have played a bit better over the past week. Then again, it was hard to play much worse than their start. Things don’t get any easier traveling to Nashville on Thursday night though.
The Predators have an easy one on their hands on paper. Nashville will take it as they need every win they can get to keep up with the red hot Avalanche in the Central.
Minnesota Wild
It’s a rebuilding year for the Wild so they have to accept that there will be struggles. That was very evident in a 1-6 start. Minnesota didn’t get any help from the schedule makers though, having played 6 of their first 9 on the road.
The Wild have won just one of those road tilts so far, a 2-0 win in Ottawa on October 14th as -125 favorites. That being said, Minnesota has strung together two straight wins, even though they were favored against both Montreal and Edmonton in those victories.
It’s back on the road for Bruce Boudreau’s team. The Wild offense has been held to 2 goals or less in all six away tilts this season, making Thursday’s total of 6 a viable lean towards the ‘under.’
Of course one of the risks of wagering on a Minnesota ‘under’ because of their offense is the inefficiency of their defense giving up a ton of scoring. Devan Dubnyk is out Thursday (upper body) but that may not be a bad thing for Wild backers.
Dubnyk is just 2-5 on the year and has one of the worst save percentages in the league at .880. Alex Stalock will get the start vs. Nashville and he has just a 1.64 GAA to go along with a .942 save percentage.
Nashville Predators
Nashville must avoid being in the ever-dangerous ‘look ahead’ mode as they host the last place wild. The Predators could easily be focused on their trip to Tampa Bay on Saturday, although the Lightning haven’t been as dominant as they were last year.
Another thing that should keep the Preds’ eyes on the prize is the fact that despite their 5-3-1 record, Nashville is still down 4 points in the Central to Colorado, who has stormed out of the gate at 7-1-1.
Nashville does have the advantage of being at Bridgestone Arena, where they are 4-1-1 on the season. In 2 of their last 4 home games though, the Predators have lost to Detroit (NAS -270) and Florida (-169).
Nashville did have a nice bounce back after the loss to the Panthers, beating Anaheim 6-1 on Tuesday. That Preds defense is still kind of shaky though after giving up at least 9 goals in 4 of 9 games this year.
Pekka Rinne gets the start vs. the Wild looking to stay undefeated (5-0-0) on the season. He has allowed 2 goals or less in 5 of 6 appearances this season.
NHL Betting Trends:
- Wild are 22-46 last 68 vs. Western Conference
- Wild are 16-36 last 52 overall
- Wild are 6-16 last 22 on 1 days rest
- Predators are 7-2 last 9 Thursday games
- Predators are 1-6 last 7 on 1 days rest
- Wild are 0-6 in the last 6 H2H meetings
The Wild have played a bit better over the past week. Then again, it was hard to play much worse than their start. Things don’t get any easier traveling to Nashville on Thursday night though.
The Predators have an easy one on their hands on paper. Nashville will take it as they need every win they can get to keep up with the red hot Avalanche in the Central.
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