The Vegas Golden Knights will be looking to take a 3-1 edge over the Minnesota Wild when these teams meet on Saturday. Vegas defeated Minnesota on Thursday, 5-2.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at the Xcel Energy Center. Vegas is the favorite at -120. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts Minnesota at +100 as the underdog.
Vegas will be without Peyton Krebs. Tomas Nosek and Max Pacioretty are both listed as questionable. Minnesota will be without Louie Belpedio, Andrew Hammond, Marcus Johansson, and Marco Rossi.
Golden Knights Rally to Down Wild
The Minnesota Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to watch Vegas respond with five unanswered goals on their way to a five-to victory. Mark Stone scored two goals in the contest and William Karlsson added a goal and an assist. Marc-Andre Fleury had a light evening, facing just 16 shots.
Vegas averaged 3.4 goals per game during the regular season, third overall, and were 22nd on the power-play at 17.8%. Stone was the team leader in points with 61, including 40 assists. Pacioretty led the team in goals with 24 but has yet to take the ice during the series. Stone, Riley Smith, and Karlsson lead the Golden Knights with three points each.
Vegas was first in goals allowed per game during the regular season at 2.2 and is first in penalty killing at 86.8%. Fleury finished the regular season 26-10-0 with a 1.98 GAA and a .928 save percentage. He has been even more stingy during the playoffs, going 3-2 with a 1.32 GAA and a .951 save percentage.
Wild Blow Golden Opportunity
Minnesota blew a golden opportunity to take a 2-1 lead in this series. Goals by Ryan Hartman and Joel Eriksson Ek had the Wild on top, but Cam Talbot could not make it hold, giving up four goals and 39 shots.
Minnesota is 15th in goals allowed per game at 2.80 and they finished the regular season 12th in penalty killing at 80.7%. Talbot was 19-8-5 with a 2.63 GAA and a .915 save percentage during the regular season. In the playoffs, he has a 2.32 GAA and a .936 save percentage in three starts.
The Wild were eighth in goals per game at 3.2 and 24th on the power-play at 17.6%. The team is getting very little offensive production in the playoffs, accumulating just 11 total points through the first three games. Five players have two points, including Eriksson Ek with two goals.
Trends:
Vegas:
- 5-1 in their last six games when playing on one day’s rest.
- 20-8 in their last 28 games on the road.
Minnesota:
- 1-4 in their last five games.
- 1-4 in their last five games as the underdog.
This is going to be a desperate Minnesota team, that absolutely has to win, but they know they blew it in Game 3. How that psychologically affects them is going to be tough to call, but they have opened the door for Vegas to totally dominate the series, and I look for the Golden Knights to jump out to a 3-1 series lead.
Pick: Take Vegas at -120.
The Total:
I look for Vegas to score a couple of goals early, then clamp down much as they did in Game 3. The Wild did nothing against the Golden Knights after the first period, and I would not be surprised if they are held to under 20 shots in this game as well. They are not going to win, as Talbot looks like he’s lost his mojo.
Pick: Go under 5.5 at -125.