Stars vs Wild Picks, Predictions, and Odds Tonight
The Wild offense has been very tame of late and facing elite goalkeeping tonight, that isn't likely to change. Our NHL picks are backing another strong outing from Jake Oettinger for the Stars.
The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild will wrap up their season series at Xcel Energy Center on Friday night.
After the Wild took a high-octane 6-5 shootout victory over the Stars on Dec. 4, Dallas has answered back with consecutive 4-1 victories over Minnesota.
Neither team enters this tilt riding a great deal of momentum, so how will things transpire? Find out in our free NHL picks and predictions for Stars vs. Wild on Friday, February 17.
Stars vs Wild best odds
Stars vs Wild picks and predictions
The Wild are mired in a deep offensive funk, and the defensively-sound Stars are among the last teams Minnesota wants to see right now. At generous odds, I’m taking the Under on their team total tonight.
Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek have not been the problem for the Wild of late, as they’ve combined for seven goals over six games in February. However, the rest of the roster has tallied a paltry two goals in that span. Jonas Brodin — a defenseman who has all of two goals on the year — scored one of them, and struggling forward Ryan Hartman had the other.
The disappearance of Hartman — who’s found the back of the net only once in his last 15 games — has been keenly felt on the heels of his 34-goal season last year.
Amazingly, the Wild have not been shut out during this offensive dry spell. That could change on Friday night if goaltender Jake Oettinger suits up, as expected.
Oettinger — who figures to get the starting nod while backup netminder Scott Wedgewood gets tomorrow night’s game against the bottom-feeding Columbus Blue Jackets — is deservingly in the Vezina Trophy odds picture with some stellar stats to his credit this season.
His 2.23 GAA and .925 SV% catch the eye, but his road splits are even better, as he boasts a 1.94 GAA and a .939 SV%. Oettinger has won each of his last two starts against Minnesota, stopping all but a pair of the 63 shots he saw.
The Wild have gotten to three goals only once in their last 11 games, not counting the two times they won in a shootout by an artificial score of 3-2. The odds of them suddenly finding their scoring sticks against the No. 2 scoring defense in the NHL aren’t great.
My best bet: Wild team total Under 2.5 goals (+115 at DraftKings)
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Stars vs Wild moneyline analysis
The familiar adage “you can’t win if you can’t score” has applied to both teams of late, but particularly for the Wild. The Stars get a tepid nod from this handicapper on the moneyline.
Since banking back-to-back 4-0 shutouts on Jan. 19 and Jan. 21, Dallas is a modest 2-1-4 (2-5 SU for wagering purposes), with all of those games coming at home. They topped two goals only twice in that span. While it’s true that they faced some tough opponents in that stretch — namely the Devils, Hurricanes, Lightning, and Bruins — a team with playoff aspirations ought to do better.
However, the Stars’ recent 4-1 victory over the Wild is hard to overlook, as is Minnesota’s dreadful offensive form.
No matter who gets the nod in net for the Wild tonight, Dallas should be fine. Marc-Andre Fleury has been the No. 1 option of head coach Dean Evason this year, but he’s off to a dreadful start in February (0-3, 4.22 GAA, .859 SV%).
Filip Gustavsson (2.18 GAA, .926 SV%) has been sharp in his last two starts, and has been a solid backup option all year long. But the Stars were able to put three pucks past him on Feb. 8. Roope Hintz — who’s scored four goals over his last five games — added the empty-net marker that night.
Stars vs Wild Over/Under analysis
Despite the Wild’s inability to fill the back of the net on a regular basis, their power play has been clicking, notching at least one goal in eight of their last 10 games. However, Dallas is second in the NHL in penalty killing (83.9%), and has surrendered only two man-advantage goals in its last 26 chances against.
Meanwhile, the Stars have gone 0-for-14 on the power play over their last five games, and take on Minnesota’s eighth-ranked penalty-killing unit that’s prevented goals in its last 12 tries.
The trends are firmly in favor of the Under, with the Stars going 22-5-1 to the Under in their last 28 overall, and 21-7-4 in their last 32 road games. It’s 12-3-1 in the Wild’s last 16 home games, and 19-7-2 in their last 28 overall.
It’s somewhat rare to see a total of 5.5 listed for an NHL game these days, but bettors should feel fortunate it isn’t juiced to the Under as of this writing.
Stars vs Wild betting trend to know
The road team is 4-1 in the last five meetings between these two teams. Find more NHL betting trends for Stars vs Wild.
