Two clubs squaring off for the first time this year, the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues meet at the Enterprise Center. Fox Sports North will broadcast this Central Division matchup, which gets underway at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, November 3.
Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues Odds
Minnesota (-105) is playing the role of underdog to St. Louis (-115). The Over/Under (O/U) is set at 6 goals and originally opened at -110 for the over and -110 for the under. That line has since moved however, and it now sits at -125 money on the over, +105 on the under.
Minnesota is 7-5 straight up (SU) and has earned moneyline bettors 1.3 units this year. Through 12 regular season contests, six of its games have gone under the total, while five have gone over and just one has pushed. This 2018-19 Wild team is 2-3 SU on the road.
Minnesota has converted on 20.5 percent of its power play chances thus far. That mark hasn’t moved too much from last season, when it was ranked 16th in the league by scoring on 20.6 percent of its extra-man chances. Its penalty kill has gotten stronger, as the team has gone from successfully defending 80.9 percent of all opponent power plays (ranked 12th overall last year) to 86.8 percent this year.
For the team as a whole, Minnesota has been penalized 5.3 times per game in the 2018-19 season, a number that’s regressed noticeably from last year’s 3.8 penalties per game. After serving an average of 8.6 penalty minutes per game a year ago, the team’s had to stave off opponent power plays for 11.4 minutes per outing this season.
Sporting a .937 save percentage and 33.2 saves per game, Devan Dubnyk (5-4-2) has been the top option in goal for Minnesota this year. If Minnesota decides to rest him, however, the team may turn to Alex Stalock (2-1 record, .895 save percentage, 3.30 goals against average).
Ryan Suter and Zach Parise will both be relied on to facilitate things for the visiting Wild. Suter has 12 points via three goals and nine assists, and has recorded multiple points three times. Parise has four goals and eight assists to his name (and has notched at least one point in seven games).
St. Louis is 4-7 straight up (SU) and has lost 4.7 units for moneyline bettors thus far. Seven of its outings have gone over the total, while three have gone under and just one has pushed. It’s 3-4 SU at home thus far.
St. Louis has converted on 30.4 percent of its power play chances this year, a figure that places it in the top-5 among NHL teams. On the other hand, its penalty kill is ranked 18th overall, and it’s successfully killed off 77.8 percent of all opponent power plays.
St. Louis players have been penalized only 3.8 times per game this season. Last year, that number was at 3.3, the third-lowest mark in the league. After serving an average of 7.7 penalty minutes per game a season ago the team’s had to kill penalties for 8.2 minutes per contest this year.
Jake Allen (25.9 saves per game) has been the top selection in goal for St. Louis. Allen has four wins, six losses, and three overtime losses to his name and has maintained a subpar .878 save percentage and 3.88 goals against average this year.
Ryan O’Reilly (three goals, 12 assists) will lead the attack for the Blues.
Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues Betting Predictions
Free Prediction: SU Winner – Blues, O/U – Over
Click Here to Start Betting Today!
Notes
Betting Trends
After posting a 3-3 record in games decided by a shootout last year, Minnesota is off to a 0-1 start in shootouts this season. St. Louis went 3-0 in shootouts last year and has yet to participate in one this time around.
For both of these teams, the game went over the total in four of their past five outings.
Minnesota skaters notched 16.9 hits per game last season, while the Blue Notes posted 23.1 hits per matchup.
+++++
