The Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators meet Thursday in NHL action at the Bridgestone Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Minnesota Wild are averaging 2.9 goals per game and are scoring on 21.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 40 goals, Mats Zuccarello has 45 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 247 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 2.6 goals per game and are killing 81.6 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 126 goals on 1,367 shots faced, and Filip Gustavsson has allowed 77 goals on 1,142 shots.
The Nashville Predators are averaging 2.7 goals per game and are scoring on 17.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Matt Duchene leads Nashville with 22 goals, Roman Josi has 41 assists and Filip Forsberg has 157 shots on goal. Defensively, the Nashville Predators are allowing 2.9 goals per game and are killing 82.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Juuse Saros has allowed 168 goals on 2,075 shots faced, and Kevin Lankinen has allowed 45 goals on 549 shots.
The Wild are 19-7 in their last 26 games playing on 1 days rest and 5-1 in their last 6 vs. Central. The Predators are 8-21 in their last 29 vs. Central and 1-4 in their last 5 games following a win. The over is 7-3-2 in Wild last 12 vs. Western Conference. The under is 4-0-1 in Predators last 5 overall. The Wild are 1-9 in the last 10 meetings in Nashville and 3-11 in the last 14 meetings. The home team is 15-5 in the last 20 meetings. The favorite is 16-5 in the last 21 meetings.
The Nashville Predators have had issues stringing wins together all season, and it’s why they’re no longer in the playoff conversation. The Minnesota Wild have been one of the most consistent teams in the league, and they’re still playing for seeding. The Preds have owned the Wild over the years, but I’m still siding with the road team.