Minnesota Wild at Florida Panthers odds, picks and predictions
The Minnesota Wild (18-21-5) stay in the Sunshine state and take on the Florida Panthers (27-13-4) on Friday. Puck drop at Amerant Bank Arena is at 7:10 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Below, we analyze FanDuel Sportsbook’s lines around the Wild vs Panthers odds, and make our expert NHL picks and predictions.
The Wild were competitive for the 1st 40 minutes in Tampa Bay on Thursday against the Lightning, before they unraveled in the 3rd period and lost 7-3. Minnesota is 2-8-1 in its last 11 games and have just a 3% chance of making the postseason according to Moneypuck. Entering Friday, Minnesota possesses the worst penalty-killing percentage (71.3) in the NHL.
The Panthers enter this matchup on a 3-game losing streak (0-2-1), their longest of the season. C Sam Reinhart scored in his 9th straight game in the 3-2 OT loss to Detroit Wednesday night, breaking a tie with Pavel Bure for the franchise record. Florida is 3-11 to the Under in their last 14 games.
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Wild at Panthers nickname odds
FanDuel Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 1:25 p.m. ET.
Wild at Panthers projected goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury (8-9-3, 2.97 GAA, .897 SV%) vs. Sergei Bobrovsky (21-10-2, 2.46 GAA, .911 SV%)
The 39-year-old Fleury earned a shutout against the Islanders in his last start Monday night, his 1st shutout of the season. With his 552nd victory, the 3-time Stanley Cup champion passed Patrick Roy for sole possession of 2nd place behind Martin Brodeur (691) on the all-time wins list.
Bobrovsky has logged a heavy workload this season with 1,949 minutes played; only Colorado’s Alexandar Georgiev (2,246) has played more. The 2-time Vezina Trophy winner was recently voted a 2024 All-Star, but he has allowed multiple goals in 4 straight games.
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Wild at Panthers picks and predictions
Prediction
Wild 4, Panthers 3
BET WILD(+160).
Minnesota got some good chances Thursday night at Amalie Arena, but Andrei Vasilevskiy made a number of crucial saves in his 4th straight win. Even on a back-to-back, I would rather take a shot getting plus money on a Wild team with former Bolts forwards and Cup champions D Zach Bogosian and LW Pat Maroon. I predict the veterans will rally the team together and C Joel Eriksson Ek will score for a 3rd straight game as Minnesota pulls the upset.
BET WILD +1.5(-152).
Given that we have a matchup featuring the active leader in wins for goalies (Fleury) vs. 3rd-active in Bobrovsky (381), I would expect that the game stays close either way.
PASS
The Panthers have played a bunch of games to the Under the past few weeks, but the 35-year-old Bobrovsky has logged a lot of minutes. I do wonder how his body is holding up near the halfway point of the season.
The Wild gave up enough goals themselves to go Over the total (6.5) Thursday vs Tampa and have played to just 1 Under in their last 5. Fleury will keep the Panthers offense somewhat in check as they have scored only 7 goals total during the 3-game losing streak.
