Sports Betting Overview
The Nashville Predators had been building quite a team until some of the key players were lost to free agency last off-season. But that did not seem to affect the remaining players very much as the Predators are second in the Central Division and look to be challenging for a playoff spot. The Predators are a hard-working bunch of hockey players that will not dazzle you with their brilliance or make you think back to the 1980’s glory days of the Edmonton Oilers. The Predators grind in the corners and make smart passes to the center of the ice. Occasionally, a Predator may miss an empty net from only a few feet out, but those things happen. The Predators have good goaltending and figure to be around when the playoffs start next year.
The Minnesota Wild has been quietly building a contender for the past few years, but now the secret is out. Any of the price per head sports fans inMinnesota that had never heard of goaltender Niklas Backstrom will start hearing about him now. Backstrom has two shutouts and a 1.97 goals against average already in this young season. The Wild play a suffocating style of defense that takes up large portions of the ice for most of the game. But the Wild do have good scorers such as Matt Cullen and Devin Setoguchi that can score goals at key moments. This is a good team inMinnesota, and the Wild fans may have more to cheer about when the playoffs arrive.
Nashville Predators
The bookie software shows that the Predators will go only as far as goaltender Pekka Rinne can take it. By the looks of things, that could be pretty far. In 17 games played this season, Rinne has won 10 of them and has three shutouts to go along with a 2.12 goals against average. He is helped by s stifling defense that will have its hands full with some of these Minnesota Wild forwards. But Rinne should be able to stand up against the onslaught that the Wild will bring. Don’t forget that the Predators can score goals as well. The Predators have 50 goals on the season compared to Minnesota’s 41. If Nashville needs to turn on the bet online power to score some goals, it can certainly do that.
Minnesota Wild
The Wild pretty much work the same way thatNashvilledoes.Minnesotawill do only as well as Backstrom does, butMinnesotahas a strong defense and creative goal scorers that could give the Predators problems. Setoguchi is the one that the Predators will have to keep an eye on as he has been able to put the puck in the net more consistently in the last few games. With Backstrom coming off of a shutout win on the road in Colorado, it is not out of the question to think that he could do it again at home in Minnesota.
The Bottom Line
The NHL fans inMinnesota are hard to please because they know their hockey. But the Wild are playing an exciting brand of hockey that has made the fans inMinnesota believe that this team can make the playoffs. The Predators will be there come playoff time as well, but this game will be a grinding affair that will see the Predators falling just short.
Pick: Minnesota Wild
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