Vegas Golden Knights vs. Minnesota Wild Game 6 Prediction, Playoff Odds
The Knights, though, are short -136 favourites on the NHL odds to end it Wednesday.
Golden Knights vs. Wild Stanley Cup Odds
Arguably the biggest winner of the NHL’s busy Monday of playoff action was the Colorado Avalanche even though they didn’t play. The Avs, who won the Presidents’ Trophy during the regular season, swept out the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. Colorado gets the winner of this series next, and Minnesota’s Game 5 4-2 upset win in Las Vegas on Monday means the Avalanche will get at least few more days of rest and preparation. The longer the Knights-Wild series goes, the greater the chance of injury as well.
On the puckline for Game 2, the Knights are +185 at -1.5 goals and the Wild are -223 at +1.5 goals. The under 5.5 goals scored is a -120 favourite. On the series line, Vegas is a -714 favourite with Minnesota at +400. To win the Cup, Vegas has jumped into the second-favoured role at +502 with Minnesota a +4900 long shot.
The underdog is 5-2 in the past seven in this series. The total has gone under in five of the past six.
Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas may not beat Colorado regardless if it advances, but it surely will not without regular-season leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty. He has yet to play in this series due to an undisclosed injury and remains day-to-day. Fellow winger Tomas Nosek went down injured in Game 2 and is given the same designation.
Marc-Andre Fleury had been on the greatest run of his career in allowing two goals or fewer in 13 straight games, but that ended in Monday’s 4-2 home loss. He allowed three goals on just 13 shots. The fourth goal was an empty-netter. Mark Stone’s fourth goal of these playoffs had given Vegas a 1-0 lead. Alec Martinez had the other Knights goal, coming on the power play. Vegas outshot Minnesota 40-14. The Golden Knights are 5-0 in their past five Wednesday games.
Minnesota Wild
Cam Talbot was the well-deserved No. 1 star in Game 4 with 38 saves; he made 21 in the second period when Minnesota was outshot a comical 22-1. Those 38 saves overall were the second-most by a Wild goaltender when facing elimination, behind only Manny Fernandez (43) in Game 7 of the 2003 conference quarterfinals.
All four Minnesota goal-scorers had their first of these playoffs: Stellar rookie Kirill Kaprizov, Zach Parise, Jordan Greenway (eventual game-winner) and Nico Sturm. The Wild scored three first-period goals against Marc-Andre Fleury after scoring just four total goals in the previous four games. Teams have rallied from 3-1 down in the playoffs 29 times since 1942. The Wild are 20-7 in their past 27 at home.
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