The Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild meet Wednesday in NHL action at the Xcel Energy Center. The Tampa Bay Lightning have won 9 of their last 11 games. The Minnesota Wild have won 8 of their last 10 games.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are averaging 3.5 goals per game and are scoring on 26.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Brayden Point leads Tampa Bay with 21 goals, Nikita Kucherov has 40 assists and Steven Stamkos has 117 shots on goal. Defensively, the Tampa Bay Lightning are allowing 2.9 goals per game and are killing 82.1 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Andrei Vasilevskiy has given up 63 goals on 799 shots faced, and Brian Elliott has allowed 30 goals on 283 shots.
The Minnesota Wild are averaging 3.1 goals per game and are scoring on 23.7 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 20 goals, Mats Zuccarello has 24 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 108 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 2.8 goals per game and are killing 79 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 63 goals on 657 shots faced, and Filip Gustavsson has allowed 32 goals on 401 shots.
The Lightning are 14-5 in their last 19 games playing on 0 days rest and 20-8 in their last 28 overall. The Wild are 63-26 in their last 89 home games and 8-2 in their last 10 overall. The under is 3-1-1 in Lightning last 5 road games. The under is 8-2 in Wild last 10 overall. The Lightning are 1-10 in the last 11 meetings in Minnesota and 1-6 in the last 7 meetings. The underdog is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings. The home team is 20-7-1 in the last 28 meetings.
The Minnesota Wild are one of the best home teams in the league dating back to last season, and they have the rest advantage. However, getting the Tampa Bay Lightning at plus money or even cheap juice is tough to turn down. No matter where they play or who they play, the Lightning are one of those teams that has a great chance to win regardless based on their talent level and proven track record. I can’t turn down the Lightning at this price.