In their first of three head-to-head meetings this season, the Arizona Coyotes and the Minnesota Wild face off at the Xcel Energy Center in a Western Conference matchup. NBC Sports Network will broadcast the game, and the action gets going at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 16.
Arizona Coyotes at Minnesota Wild Odds
With a -160 moneyline, Minnesota comes into the matchup as the obvious favorite. The line for Arizona sits at +140, and the Over/Under (O/U) has been set at 6 goals (-110 for the over, -110 for the under).
Losing -2.7 units for moneyline bettors, Minnesota is 1-4 straight up (SU) overall in the 2018-19 season. That early-season winning percentage is a big slide from what the team managed during last year’s regular season (45-37). Among its five games this season, two have gone over the total, while another two have gone under and none have pushed. The team’s 1-2 SU at home this year.
The Wild have successfully connected on 18.8 percent of their power play opportunities so far. That mark hasn’t moved too much from last season, when they were ranked 16th in the league by scoring on 20.6 percent of their extra-man advantages. Their penalty kill has improved nicely year-over-year as they’ve gone from successfully defending 80.9 percent of opponents’ power plays (ranked 12th overall last season) to 82.6 percent this year.
The Wild, as a collective unit, have been penalized 5.8 times per game this season, a number that’s swelled from last year’s 3.8 penalties per game they gave up. After serving an average of 8.6 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team has had to kill penalties for a taxing 12.8 minutes per matchup this year.
Averaging 39.0 saves per game with a .934 save percentage, Devan Dubnyk (1-3-2) has been the top goalkeeper for Minnesota this year. If head coach Bruce Boudreau decides to give him a rest, however, Minnesota could turn to Alex Stalock (0-1-1 record, .889 save percentage, 3.11 goals against average).
The Wild will continue to look for offensive production out of Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu. Parise (seven points) is up to one goal and six assists while Koivu has one goal and three assists to his name so far in the season’s early stages.
On the other hand, Arizona is 1-3 straight up (SU) and has lost 2.3 units for bettors taking the moneyline thus far. A total of three of its contests have gone under the total, while none have gone over and one has pushed. As the visiting team, the Coyotes are 1-1 SU so far.
The Coyotes have scored on 8.3 percent of their power play chances this year after converting on 16.3 percent of their extra-man opportunities last season (a mark that was ranked just 27th in the NHL). The team’s gone from killing off 79.4 percent of opponent power plays (ranked 18th overall last season) to 90.0 percent in 2018-19.
Arizona’s players have been whistled for penalties 3.3 times per game this season. Last year, that number was at 3.3, which was the fifth-lowest mark in the league. After serving an average of 7.8 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team has had to stave off opponent power plays for 6.5 minutes per outing this year.
Antti Raanta (.903 save percentage and 2.22 goals against average) has been the primary option in goal for Arizona. Raanta is averaging 21.0 saves per game and has one win and three losses to his credit.
Leading the offensive attack for the visiting Coyotes will be Brad Richardson (one goal, zero assists) and Michael Grabner (zero goals, one assist).
Arizona Coyotes vs. Minnesota Wild Betting Predictions
NHL Prediction: SU Winner – Wild, O/U – Over
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Notes
Betting Trends
The total has gone under in three of Arizona’s last five games.
Arizona has yet to win a game by two more more goals this season.
Arizona skaters registered 24.4 hits per game last season, while the Wild logged 16.9 hits per contest.
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