The Minnesota Wild and the San Jose Sharks meet in NHL action from the SAP Center on Saturday night. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Minnesota is listed as a -180 road favorite while the Sharks are +160 home underdogs with the total for this game set at 5.5 goals.
Injuries
For Minnesota, Kirill Kaprizov and Gustav Nyquist are both out until mid-April, while Brandon Duhaime is questionable for this game. For San Jose, Jacob MadDonald is questionable for this game with an undisclosed injury and Radim Simek is out indefinitely with a concussion.
Matchup History
San Jose’s 5-2 win back on December 22nd, 2022, made it back-to-back wins for the Sharks in this head-to-head matchup.
Trends
Minnesota is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 6-1 in their last 7 games against the Western Conference while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 road games. San Jose is 1-5 in their last 6 games against the Central division and 11-40 in their last 51 games after their opponent allows 2 goals or less in their previous game while the under is 6-1-1 in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record.
Pick
I’m backing the Wild here. I just don’t trust the Sharks in any way, shape or form, especially at home where they’ve won less than a quarter of their games this season. Minnesota continues to play strong defense wherever they go and I look for this game to be no different and wouldn’t be surprised if San Jose didn’t score a goal here. Give me the Wild.