NHL Bet of the Week
The NHL is coming down the stretch and with the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche battling it out with the Dallas Stars for the Central Division title, and they will square off this Wednesday for the final time this year.
Avalanche’s Star Power
The Colorado Avalanche have dealt with injuries all year, but they are almost 100 percent healthy now and teams are starting to understand why they are the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
A top line of Nathan Makinnon, Mikko Rantannen, and Valeri Nichushkin drives is one of the best in the league, and the second line of Alex Newhook, JT Compher, and Evan Rodriguez all are elite second line options.
Lastly, the defensive group of the Colorado Avalanche is second to none in the league, with Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Samuel Girard, and Bowen Byram being their top four is absolutely ridiculous.
Wild’s Style of Play
The Wild have been a defensive minded team all season. They have been relying on one player for most of their scoring, however, they have played well without Kirill Kaprizov. Even with the current style of play being successful they are headed into a buzz saw that doesn’t look like it will slow down anytime soon.
When you consider the majority of their forwards are good defensive players, and their blue line group is one of the most fundamentally sound in the league it would make sense why they have relied on defense for the whole season. However, they are still outmatched on the blue line against the Avalanche.
The Wild will have a way harder time scoring than the Avalanche and that will be due to the talent that the Avalanche have over the Wild on the top two lines. The Wild can slow down the Avalanche more than most teams, but at the end of the day trust your money on the team with more talent.
Previous NHL Matchups
As this is the third and final time these teams will see each other this regular season, let’s look back at the first two matchups. The first final was the Colorado Avalanche winning 6-3 in Minnesota and the second game was 3-2 in Minnesota as well and the Avalanche also came out on top in that one.
This game will be played in Colorado, and I don’t see how a team missing their best player will win on the road after losing two times at home already. Also, Colorado is healthier than they were for the previous two games.
The Avalanche are the measuring stick for most teams in the west as they are the defending champs, and the Wild will definitely have this game circled, but so will the Avalanche as they look to get home ice in the first round of the NHL playoffs.
Overall, this doesn’t look too good for the Minnesota Wild and you should take your money and place it on the Colorado Avalanche moneyline and celebrate your winnings around 1:00 pm EST on Wednesday night.
