Minnesota Wild (13-8-1) vs Vegas Golden Knights (16-4-1)
Game Info: Monday, March 8, 2021 at 8:00 pm (Xcel Energy Center)
Betting Odds: Minnesota Wild +120 / Vegas Golden Knights -140 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Vegas Golden Knights and the Minnesota Wild meet in NHL action from the Xcel Energy Center on Monday night.
The Vegas Golden Knights will be looking to build on a 4-0 win over the Sharks in their last matchup, to push their winning streak to six. Mark Stone leads the Golden Knights in scoring with 27 points including 21 assists while Max Pacioretty has 21 points with a team-high 12 goals, 9 assists and 95 shots on goal. Alex Tuch has 19 points with 12 goals and 7 apples and William Karlsson has 6 goals with 11 assists for his 17 points. Jonathan Marchessault’s got 16 points with 7 goals and 9 helpers while Shea Theodore and Chandler Stephenson each have 14 points with Theodore logging 11 assists and Stephenson splitting between 7 goals and 7 assists this season. Marc-Andre Fleury continues to make the bulk of the starts in goal for Vegas, going 12-3 with 4 shutouts and a 1.60 GAA this season.
The Minnesota Wild will look to rebound from a 5-2 loss to Arizona last time out. Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild with 19 points coming on 6 goals and 13 assists while Joel Greenway is right behind with 18 points including 13 assists and 5 goals. Marcus Foligno has 14 points with 7 goals and 7 apples and Mats Zuccarello’s at 13 with 4 goals and 9 assists. Jonas Brodin has 11 points while Zach Parise and Kevin Fiala each have 10 points with Fiala logging 7 goals on the year. Kaapo Kahkonen has made the bulk of the starts for Minnesota in goal, going 9-4 with a 2.30 GAA in 13 appearances while Cam Talbot’s got 4 wins and a 2.88 GAA.
Vegas is 4-0 in their last 4 road games and 39-15 in their last 54 games overall while the under is 8-3 in their last 11 games overall. Minnesota is 4-1 in their last 5 home games and 2-5 in their last 7 games as a home underdog while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. The home team is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.
It’s really hard to pick a side here when you have two sides playing as well as Vegas and Minnesota are right now, but even still, I feel the over has to be the play here. Vegas alone has scored 5 goals in each of the two meetings between the Knights and the Wild this season and even if we see a bit of a dropoff, Minnesota’s playing well enough to hold up their end so I’ll back the over in this spot.
Chris’s Pick Over 6.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg