The Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Canucks meet in NHL action from the Rogers Arena on Thursday night. The Wild are heating up again, can they keep the win streak going? Or will Vancouver defend home ice? Let’s dive in and give out a Wild vs. Canucks Prediction.

Minnesota Wild Team Preview

The Minnesota Wild come into this one on the heels of a 4th straight win after a 5-2 win over Calgary last time out. Mats Zuccarello has a team-high 27 points including a team-high 21 assists while Joel Eriksson Ek has 19 points with a team-high 12 goals and 7 assists. Kirill Kaprizov’s added 23 points of his own with 15 assists and Marco Rossi has 15 points with 8 goals and 7 assists. Filip Gustavsson has posted a 5-6-2 record with a 3.35 GAA and an .894 save percentage while Marc-Andre Fleury is 4-4-2 with a 3.21 GAA and an .884 save percentage this season.

Minnesota Wild Team Facts

The Wild have won each of their last six games as underdogs against the Canucks.
The Wild have covered the puck line in each of their last seven games as underdogs against the Canucks.
The Wild have lost the first period in each of their last five night games following a road win.
The ‘Over 1.5 Goals Period 1’ market has hit in eight of the Wild’s last nine games following a road win.

Vancouver Canucks Team Preview

The Vancouver Canucks come into this game looking to bounce back from a 6-5 loss to New Jersey last time out. J.T. Miller leads the Canucks with 39 points including 14 goals and 25 assists while Quinn Hughes has 36 points with 9 goals and a team-high 27 assists. Elias Pettersson’s added 34 points with 24 assists and Brock Boeser’s chipped in 30 points with a team-high 18 goals of his own. Filip Hronek’s added 25 points with 23 assists as well for the Canucks this season. Thatcher Demko’s gone 12-7 with a 2.46 GAA and a .918 save percentage in goal for Vancouver while Casey DeSmith is 4-2-1 with a 3.06 GAA and a .907 save percentage this season.

Vancouver Canucks Team Facts

The Canucks have won each of their last six home games against Central Division opponents.
The Canucks have covered the puck line in each of their last eight home games against Central Division opponents.
The Canucks have won the second period in each of their last six games as favorites following a home loss.
The ‘Over 1.5 Goals Period 3′ market has hit in each of the Canucks’ last 10 games as favorites against opponents on a winning streak.

Matchup/League Facts

The Vancouver Canucks ranks 1st in the league for goals per game this season (3.88).
The Vancouver Canucks ranks 4th in the league in power play percentage this season (27.37%).
The Minnesota Wild ranks 32nd in the league in penalty kill percentage this season (71.08%).
The Minnesota Wild ranks T25th in the league for goals against per game this season (3.48).

Wild vs. Canucks Prediction

I’m on Minnesota here. I’m not writing off the Canucks by any stretch of the imagination, but you can definitely see that this is a different version of the Canucks in recent games and they’re not necessarily the easiest to figure out right now. The Wild have stunk it up for a lot of the season, but they’re riding the momentum wave of their recent coaching change and I think they carry it forward for another win here. Give me Minnesota.