Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche - 3/20/21 NHL Picks and Prediction
Photo by Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado Avalanche (18-8-2) vs Minnesota Wild (18-9-1)
Game Info: Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 3:00 pm (Ball Arena)
Betting Odds: Colorado Avalanche -160 / Minnesota Wild +144 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche meet in NHL action from the Ball Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Minnesota Wild will look to rebound from a 5-1 loss to Colorado in their last game. Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild in scoring with 25 points including 10 goals and a team-high 15 assists while Mats Zuccarello and Joel Greenway each have 20 points with 15 assists apiece as well. Joel Eriksson Ek has a team-high 11 goals as well this season. As a team, Minnesota is averaging 3.2 goals per game on 30.5 shots per game with an 8.1% success rate on the PP while allowing 2.4 goals against per game with 28.7 shots against per game and an 86.2% kill rate on the PK this season.
The Colorado Avalanche will look to build on their win over the Wild from their last matchup. Mikko Rantanen leads the Avalanche in scoring with 34 points including a team-high 16 goals to go along with 18 assists while Nathan MacKinnon has 28 points with a team-high 19 assists. Nazem Kadri has 24 points with 9 goals and 15 assists while Sam Girard has 22 points with 17 assists. As a team, Colorado is averaging 3.2 goals per game on 34.2 shots per game with a 23% success rate on the power play while allowing 2.4 goals against per game with 24.9 shots against per game and an 87.7% success rate on the penalty kill this season.
Minnesota is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 1-4 in their last 5 road games while the over is 19-4-3 in their last 26 Saturday games. Colorado is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall and 5-0 in their last 5 home games while the under is 9-4 in their last 13 games as a home favorite. The over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.
I get why Colorado’s favored here as the Avs looked really good in the last meeting. However, these two teams have traded wins back and forth so far this season in each of the five meetings and if we’re following that pattern, Minnesota and the plus money holds a lot of value here. Four of the five meetings have gone over the number as well, so I’ll back the over as well as taking the Wild at plus money here.
Chris’s Pick Minnesota +144 / Over 5.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Mitch's Take...
