Minnesota Wild (19-8-2) vs. Dallas Stars (14-12-2)
December 20, 2021 8:30 pm EDT
The Line: Dallas Stars -118 / Minnesota Wild +107; Over/Under: -5.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Minnesota Wild and the Dallas Stars meet in NHL action from the American Airlines Center on Monday night.
The Minnesota Wild will be out to snap a three-game losing skid after a 3-2 shootout loss at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres last time out. Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild in scoring with 33 points including a team-high 22 assists as well as 11 goals while Ryan Hartman has 24 points with a team-high 13 goals, 11 assists and a team-best +22 plus/minus rating this season. Marcus Foligno also has 13 goals while Mats Zuccarello has 22 points with 8 goals and 14 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 20 points with 11 goals. Cam Talbot has seen the majority of Minnesota’s action in goal, going 15-6-1 with a 2.67 GAA and a .919 save percentage this season.
The Dallas Stars will try to add to a 4-3 overtime win over Chicago last time out. Joe Pavelski leads the Stars in scoring with 26 points including a team-high 11 goals and 15 assists while Jason Robertson has 23 points with 10 goals and 13 assists and Roope Hintz has 18 points with 11 goals of his own. Miro Heiskanen also has 16 points with 13 assists. Braden Holtby’s posted a 5-7-1 record with a 2.44 GAA and a .923 save percentage while Jake Oettinger is 6-2 with a 2.02 GAA and a .932 save percentage this season.
Minnesota is 8-3 in their last 11 games overall and 5-2 in their last 7 games against the Western Conference while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 Monday games. Dallas is 9-1 in their last 10 home games and 1-5 in their last 6 games overall while the under is 9-1 in their last 10 games as a favorite.
The Wild are a team I’ve been high on for much of the year, but even this feels like a bad spot against a Dallas team that’s back to playing some high-level defense that helped them reach the cup final in the bubble a couple of seasons ago. The Stars also likely haven’t forgotten about the 7-2 beating the Wild handed them in the first meeting this season so I’ll side with the Stars at home in this one.
