The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild meet Friday in game 3 of the NHL West First Round Playoffs at the Xcel Energy Center. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Dallas Stars are averaging 4.5 goals per game and are scoring on 45.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Roope Hintz leads Dallas with 4 goals, Miro Heiskanen has 5 assists and Wyatt Johnston has 12 shots on goal. Defensively, the Dallas Stars are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 77.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Jake Oettinger has allowed 6 goals on 74 shots faced.
The Minnesota Wild are averaging 3 goals per game and are scoring on 22.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 1 goal, Gustav Nyquist has 3 assists and Matt Boldy has 14 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 4.5 goals per game and are killing 54.6 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Filip Gustavsson has allowed 2 goals on 53 shots faced, and Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 7 goals on 31 shots.
The Stars are 5-1 in their last 6 road games and 7-1 in their last 8 overall. The Wild are 77-34 in their last 111 home games and 14-4 in their last 18 games playing on 1 days rest. The over is 4-0 in Stars last 4 road games. The under is 19-6-2 in Wild last 27 home games. The under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings. The over is 11-5-3 in the last 19 meetings in Minnesota.
The Dallas Stars are playing some of their best hockey of the season, and they’ve been road warriors to close out the regular season. A game 2 blowout win is also encouraging for the Stars. With all that said, the Wild have been a buzz saw at home dating back to last season, and that includes just 7 losses since January 10. Filip Gustavsson has a 92.9 percent save percentage at home this season. Give me the Wild and the heap price.