New York Islanders vs Minnesota Wild 1/12/23 NHL Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Minnesota Wild and the New York Islanders meet in NHL action from the UBS Arena on Thursday night.

The Minnesota Wild will try to bounce back from a third straight loss after a 4-3 shootout loss to the Rangers last time out. Kirill Kaprizov has a team-high 49 points with a team-high 24 goals and 25 assists while Mats Zuccarello has 41 points with 17 goals and 24 assists. Matt Boldy has 29 points with 12 goals and 17 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 32 points with 14 goals and 18 assists. Calen Addison also has 18 assists this season. Marc-Andre Fleury is 13-8-3 with a 2.93 GAA and an .902 save percentage while Filip Gustavsson is 9-6-1 with a 2.25 GAA and a .924 save percentage this season.

The New York Islanders will try to snap their own three-game losing skid after a 2-1 shootout loss to Dallas last time out. Brock Nelson has 39 points with a team-high 15 goals and 24 assists while Mathew Barzal has a team-high 41 points with a team-high 30 assists and Anders Lee has 30 points with 15 goals and 15 assists. Ilya Sorokin has gone 14-13-2 with a 2.30 GAA and a .925 save percentage while Semyon Varlamov is 8-4-1 with a 2.75 GAA and a .913 save percentage so far this season.

Minnesota is 15-5 in their last 20 games against the Metropolitan division and 1-4 in their lats 5 Thursday games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. New York is 1-4 in their last 5 games overall and 1-5 in their last 6 games against the Western Conference while the under is 3-0-2 in their last 5 home games.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I like the under in this game. When I saw this game on the card my mind immediately went to first to 3 wins kind of game as both teams have had some issues scoring as of late and both are capable of relying on defense and goaltending to win games. Not a game I’m rushing to bet, but I’d side with the under here.