The Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild meet Thursday in NHL action at the Xcel Energy Center. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
Los Angeles Kings Betting Preview
The Los Angeles Kings look for back-to-back wins to build on their 1-1-1 start. The Kings have won 4 of their last 5 road games. The Los Angeles Kings are averaging 4 goals per game and are scoring on 17.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Trevor Moore leads Los Angeles with 3 goals, Kevin Fiala has 4 assists and Alex Laferriere has 12 shots on goal. Defensively, the Los Angeles Kings are allowing 3.67 goals per game and are killing 90.9 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Cam Talbot has given up 5 goals on 63 shots faced, while Pheonix Copley has allowed 5 goals on 19 shots.
Minnesota Wild Betting Preview
The Minnesota Wild look for their second home win to improve to 3-1-0 on the year. The Wild have won 5 of their last 7 home games. The Minnesota Wild are averaging 3.67 goals per game and are scoring on 30.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Joel Eriksson Ek leads Minnesota with 3 goals, Mats Zuccarello has 5 assists and Kirill Kaprizov has 12 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 81.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Filip Gustavsson has allowed 7 goals on 74 shots faced, and Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 2 goals on 29 shots.
Randy’s Pick
The Los Angeles Kings are off to a fine start offensively, averaging 4 goals per game, and that includes scoring 5 goals in a loss to the Hurricanes. The Minnesota Wild are crushing the power play through 3 games and have scored a combined 9 goals in their last two games. While it’s still small sample sizes for both teams, you have to like what you’re seeing from both offenses out of the gate. I’ll take my chances with the over 6 goals in this spot. Expect some more fireworks.
