Minnesota Wild at Detroit Red Wings Betting Odds
Opening Moneyline: Wild +220 / Red Wings -260 O/U 5.5 goals
Time: 7:30 PM EST Friday March 26, 2010
Tonight in Motor City USA the Detroit Red Wings host the Minnesota Wild. Detroit has been playing great as of late, as they have won 3 in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. The Wild won their last game and are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
This is almost a must win game for the Wild, who trail the Red Wings by 8 points for the 8th and last playoff spot. The Red Wings only trail 7th place Colorado in the West by 2 points and they need to keep winning to assure themselves of making the playoffs for the 19th straight season.
This season the Red Wings are 21-10-5 at home and the Wild are 12-22-3 on the road.
This season Detroit is 21-10-5 at home and Minnesota is 12-22-3 on the road.
The Wild have not been a good team on the road this season and the Red Wings have owned them recently winning 6 of their last 7 meetings. In their last game Minnesota got killed 5-1 by Detroit.
In their last games the Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Wednesday night and the Wild beat Philadelphia last night in OT 4-3.
The Wild's defense is mediocre, at best, allowing an average of 2.86 goals per game. The Red Wings offense ranks 16th in the league in scoring, but has been playing great in their recent games.
The Wild defense has to really be wary of Henrik Zetterberg, who has been playing great with 4 goals and 4 assists in his last 4 games.
Wild G Niklas Backstrom (25 wins 2.66 GAA save percentage 90.3%) will have to have a big game tonight against a Detroit offense that has outscored their opponents 15-6 in their recent 4-game home winning streak.
The Minnesota offense ranks 15th in the league (2.69 goals per game) and will be facing Detroit G Jimmy Howard (30 wins 2.29 GAA save percentage 92.4%). Howard has a GAA of only 1.68 in winning six of his last 7 starts and against the Wild is 2-0-0 with a GAA of 1.92.
Betting Trends
Minnesota is 3-7 in their last 10 road games against teams with a winning home record and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 games.
Detroit is 6-1 in their last 7 games and has an Over record of 5-2 in their last 7 home games.
In the last 6 meetings between these 2 teams the total has gone Over 5 times.
Our Selection : Detroit has been playing great as of late, as they have won 3 in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. This is the Wild's 3rd game in 4 nights and 2nd in back to back games on the road, as they had a tough contest against the Flyers last night winning 4-3 in OT. Detroit has beaten the Wild 6 out of their last 7 meetings and pounded them 5-1 last time out. 5Dimes has the Red Wings at -1.5 goals +105 and we feel this is a great spot for Detroit to lay a beating on a tired Wild squad. Take Detroit -1.5 +105.
Future Betting Odds
NHL Handicapping
Tampa Bay Lightning at Boston Bruins 5-17
The Boston Bruins need to play much better in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins lost the opener 5-2 at home and can ill-afford to fall behind 2-0 to Lightning. Tampa Bay are on quite a roll, winning their last eight in a row in the playoffs. The oddsmaker at Bodog have the Bruins as a -145 favorite to even-up the series.