The Minnesota Wild and Seattle Kraken meet Friday in NHL action at the Climate Pledge Arena. The Minnesota Wild look for a win after winning 5 of their last 8 games. The Seattle Kraken look to build on their 5-game winning streak. 

The Minnesota Wild are averaging 2.92 goals per game and are scoring on 26.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 10 goals, Mats Zuccarello has 8 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 45 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 3.23 goals per game and are killing 78.6 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 30 goals on 288 shots faced, and Filip Gustavsson has allowed 11 goals on 114 shots.

The Seattle Kraken are averaging 3.57 goals per game and are scoring on 25.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Jared McCann leads Seattle with 5 goals, Andre Burakovsky has 9 assists, and Oliver Bjorkstrand has 48 shots on goal. Defensively, the Seattle Kraken are allowing 2.93 goals per game and are killing 75 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Philipp Grubauer has given up 12 goals on 86 shots faced, and Martin Jones has allowed 24 goals on 258 shots.

The Wild are 3-7 in their last 10 vs. Western Conference and 10-3 in their last 13 vs. Pacific. The Kraken are 4-0 in their last 4 games following a win and 5-0 in their last 5 overall. The under is 4-0 in Wild last 4 overall. The under is 4-1 in Kraken last 5 overall.

The Minnesota Wild are the better team on paper and reputation, so oddsmakers are going to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, the Seattle Kraken have been extremely impressive through 14 games, and it’s enough for me to give them strong consideration in the underdog role. The Kraken may eventually come back to earth, but as long as they’re in this form, I’m going to take the plus money.