Playoff Preview?
The Minnesota Wild are looking to secure home-ice advantage when they host the Colorado Avalanche in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The Wild are locked into a first-round series with the St. Louis Blues. Minnesota leads the Blues by two points with one game to play and must finish one point ahead of St. Louis to have home ice. The Blues, who own the tiebreaker, host the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night.
The Avalanche, who already clinched the best record and the top seed in the Western Conference, have lost five of their last six games. Both teams will represent the Central Division when the Western Conference playoffs start next week, so be sure to check their NHL Stanley Cup odds.
Let’s check the latest NHL lines, stats, injury reports, and NHL odds for Avalanche vs Wild. We’ve plenty of NHL picks and predictions.
Avalanche Needs its Balance
The Colorado Avalanche will be the top seed out West but lost the Presidents’ Trophy race with a shootout loss, allowing the East’s Florida Panthers to be the No. 1 overall seed. More concerning is the slow finish for Colorado. They are at least getting healthy, while still missing left winger Gabriel Landeskog with a knee injury until early May.
The Avs are one of the top offensive teams in the NHL. They are second in goals per game, scoring 3.8 per contest, and fourth in shots per game at 35.1. The real advantage comes on special teams, ranking sixth while converting extra-man opportunities 24.4% of the time. That’s an area to attack as the Wild are 25th in killing 75.8% of power plays.
Colorado has seven players with at least 20 goals, including three with 30 or more. Mikko Rantanen leads the pack with 91 assists and a team-high 36 goals. Four guys have at least 55 assists, including Nazem Kadri’s team-high 59 assists.
Wild: Defensive Strength
The red-hot Minnesota Wild have won nine of their last 11 games, although they have given up 33 goals in that span. Minnesota has struggled defensively, ranking below average at 17th in goals per game .
Offensively, however, the Wild are up there with the Colorado Avalanche. Minnesota’s 3.7 goals per game is fifth in the league, but they are up against a Colorado squad that ranks eighth in goals allowed per game at 2.8.
Kirill Kaprizov has a team-high 106 points on 60 assists and 46 goals. He probably isn’t getting enough respect in the Hart Trophy race. Kevin Fiala is behind him with 85 points
This stretch has been particularly impressive with right winger Mats Zuccarello out and defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Matt Dumba also missing time.
Avalanche vs Wild Head-to-Head
Over the last 10 meetings, the Colorado Avalanche have been favored in each one, so the scores and odds are slightly surprising. Betting on the Minnesota Wild would be lucrative, even with just four wins. The last two meetings went to overtime, with the Avs winning one in a shootout and Wild taking the latest matchup in sudden death. The over has hit six times, with five of those at 5½.
Avalanche vs Wild Game Information
- Game: Avalanche (119 points, 56-18-7) vs Wild (111 points, 52-22-7)
- Location: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN
- Time/Date: 8 p.m. ET, Friday.
- Avalanche vs Wild Live stream: NHL.TV
Avalanche vs Wild Betting Lines
The Colorado Avalanche have nothing to play for while a lot is at stake for the Minnesota Wild, who are the -120 betting favorite on the moneyline. The over/under is 6½.
Avalanche vs Wild Prediction
Stanley Cup odds can sometimes be tricky because of all the different factors that impact a game. The Wild made a late-season trade for veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who is averaging 2.91 goals against in 10 games behind the Wild. They are 8-2 in those games, and having him in net would test a strong Colorado offense.
The Avalanche are coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday and have nothing on the line.
Pick: Minnesota Wild (-120)
