Vegas Golden Knights vs. Minnesota Wild Game 3 Prediction, Playoff Odds
Vegas is a short road favourite on the NHL odds for Game 3 with at total of 5.5 goals.
Golden Knights vs. Wild Stanley Cup Odds
Even after losing Game 1 at home, Vegas remained the series favourite and is now back up to -233 after taking Game 2. Minnesota is +163. The favoured exact series result is Golden Knights in seven (+281) barely over Knights in six (+295). The long shot is Wild in five at +900. That the series ends in Game 5 is +260 with Game 6 and 7 both at +145.
Vegas is a +207 second-favourite behind Colorado to emerge from the West Division with Minnesota at +564. Neither franchise has won a Cup – the Knights are +603 and Wild +1700.
Minnesota will be allowed to have about 25 per cent capacity at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for this series. That’s about 4,500 fans, up from 3,000 at the end of the regular season. The Wild have won four of the past five in this series at home. The under is 5-1 in the previous six overall.
Vegas Golden Knights
This writer predicted a 3-2 Vegas win in Game 2, and the Knights prevailed 3-1 on Tuesday to even things up. Vegas has yet to face a 2-0 series deficit in its nine all-time playoff series. Marc-Andre Fleury was fabulous again in stopping 34 shots. It was the 36th time the future Hall of Famer allowed one goal or fewer in a playoff start (146 starts), passing the legendary Ken Dryden for sole possession of the 11th in Stanley Cup playoff history. This season, Fleury has allowed two goals or fewer in 11 straight games, tying his career-best mark set back in 2008.
Alex Tuch had two goals in Game 2, including the winner at 17:19 of the second. He added a power-play goal at 19:07 of the third. Jonathan Marchessault had the other goal. However, Vegas again was without regular-season leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty, who has now missed eight games in a row due to injury. Consider him questionable for Game 3. Vegas is 11-4 in its past 15 after allowing two goals or fewer in its previous game.
Minnesota Wild
The good news: Minnesota has allowed just four goals in this series. The bad: The Wild have scored only two. They did score first in Game 2, coming from Matt Dumba at 12:07 of the second, but that lead lasted less than 20 seconds. Cam Talbot allowed three goals on 28 shots. Minnesota was the far better and more aggressive team in the first period but couldn’t solve Marc-Andre Fleury.
Kevin Fiala had eight shots overall for the Wild and several of them high-quality but couldn’t find the net. In the regular season, Fiala had at least five shots on goal 16 times and totalled 11 goals and five assists in those games. Minnesota is 20-6 in its past 26 at home.
VEG
MIN