Blues vs. Wild Game 2 Pick
Can the Minnesota Wild avoid falling behind 2 games in their series with the St. Louis Blues when the two meet tonight at 8PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, Minnesota is the clear favorite in this game, as the Wild are getting odds of -200 to win. St. Louis is listed with odds of +170 to win, while the over/under total is set at 5 goals.
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The Blues won Game 1 of the series on Wednesday, 2-1 in OT. St. Louis has won three of five meetings with the Wild this season, including two games in Minnesota. The Blues are 47-29-7 on the season and 23-17-2 on the road while Minnesota is 49-25-9 overall and 27-12-3 at home.
St. Louis managed to win Game 1 thanks to a dominant performance from goalie Jake Allen. Allen stopped 51 shots on Wednesday, only allowing in a goal from Zach Parise late in the third period. St. Louis managed just 26 shots as a team, but that was enough to get the win. Vladimir Sobotka found the net in the second period and then Joel Edmundson got the game-winner just 2:12 into overtime.
Game 1 was an anomaly, as Minnesota led in every major category, yet somehow came up short. The Wild had a 47-33 edge in faceoffs, a 15-6 edge in takeaways and a 35-18 edge in hits. That kind of performance isn’t going to lead to losses most of the time. St. Louis could play better today, but the Blues aren’t likely to get that kind of performance from Allen again tonight.
NHL PLAYOFFS PREDICTION: MINNESOTA WILD -200