Edmonton Oilers vs. Minnesota Wild Prediction, NHL Odds
The NHL’s leading scorer has picked up 19 points (9G 10A) during his eight-game tear and will look to keep it going tonight in the Xcel Energy Center where the Oilers have not won a game since the 2018-19 season.
The Wild are the -124 favourites to win on the NHL odds with the total set at 6.5.
Oilers vs. Wild NHL Betting Odds
This will be the third and final meeting of the season between the Western Conference squads, going head-to-head for the third time this month. In their first meeting on December 1st, the Wild held the Oilers to just 21 shots, on their way to a 5-3 win.
More recently, they played in Edmonton on Friday where the Oilers beat the Wild 5-2 for the first time in their past seven games thanks to Stuart Skinner’s 42-save performance.
Both meetings this season have hit the Over, putting their matchups at 5-3 to the Over, looking all the way back to the 2019-20 season. The Oilers are looking for their first win in St. Paul Minnesota, since February 2019.
The Oilers’ offence is on fire right now, averaging four goals a game over their past eight helping them play the Over 7-1 in that span. So far this season, they have a 16-9-3 record, making them one of seven teams to play the Over in over half of their games. Edmonton has covered against the spread in half of their past 10 games and is 14-14 on the year.
The Wild’s most recent 3-0 win over Vancouver played the Under, snapping a streak of eight games in a row playing the Over, making their record this season 15-12 to the Over. They are 3-5 ATS in their last eight games and are looking to improve their 12-15 record in that column.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers are coming off a couple of days of rest after beating the Wild on Friday. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins led the way offensively with three points (1G 2A) in the contest, while Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each scored and added an assist for the second time in the season series. They would not have pulled off the 5-2 without their netminder Stuart Skinner stopping all 18 shots in the third and 42 of 44 in the game.
Having the two highest scorers in the league (McDavid and Draisaitl) has changed Edmonton’s game plan to simply out-scoring their opponents and not focusing much on defensive play. In the past three games, they were outshot 44-38 versus Minnesota and 50-30 against Washington and in their five games this month they have only registered more shots than their opponents once.
The onslaught of shots against has helped boost Stuart Skinner’s stats, solidifying him as the number-one goalie in Edmonton. The 24-year-old is 9-6 with a .919 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average.
Minnesota Wild
Goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 35 shots for his first NHL shutout in the Wild’s 3-0 win over Vancouver on Saturday night. Mats Zuccarello extended his point streak to six games with assists on Matt Boldy’s powerplay goal and Sam Steel’s third-period tally. Special teams came up huge in the win with Connor Dewar scoring shorthanded and the powerplay going 1-for-2.
Kirill Kaprizov was held off the score sheet, snapping his franchise-record 14-game point streak. He has scored four points (1G 3A) in two games against Edmonton already this season and will look to get back on track Monday night.
Marc-Andre Fleury has started both games versus the Oilers so far and will likely be back in goal Monday after three days rest. The 38-year-old who lost his past two starts is now 9-7-1 with a lacklustre 3.19 goals against and a .892 save percentage.
