Stadium: Xcel Energy Center (Saint Paul)
Prediction for the NHL Minnesota Wild vs Montreal Canadiens match, which will take place on January 25. Check the team conditions and choose several betting options.
Minnesota Wild
Minnesota continues to get stronger, transforming itself into a team capable of meeting the most significant challenges. The Wild's worst stretch of the regular season came in December and January when they unexpectedly lost five straight games. Fortunately, Dean Evason was able to prevent the losing streak. In the next six games, representatives of Saint Paul won five games with one loss to Colorado in a penalty shot (3:4). Such a strong run allowed Minnesota to return to fourth place in the Western Conference standings, and they are already in second place.
Montreal Canadiens
Montreal is slowly recovering from a disastrously weak debut in the regular season. Whereas the Canadiens played in the Stanley Cup final last summer, they are now a hopeless underdog in the league. The Red and Blue have problems with wins so far, as they could win only twice in their last 17 games. In their five previous meetings, Dominique Ducharme's team had only once left the ice without a point after a 2:5 loss to Arizona. Three other defeats came in overtime, and once they beat Dallas (5:3). As a result, the team's performance wasn't good enough for Montreal to drop out of last place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Expert Betting Tips
Minnesota has made tremendous progress in the regular season and is now battling for the lead in the West. In contrast, Montreal has been an underdog in the East since last year. That's why the Wild are favourites, but they're even better in head-to-head encounters. They haven't lost seven games in a row, and they've won ten of their last 11 meetings between the teams in total. As a result, we suggest betting on Minnesota to win with a handicap (-1.5) for 1.74.
Not only has Minnesota been consistently beating Montreal in recent years, but they've been doing it particularly brutally, especially on home ice. In the last four head-to-head encounters at the Xcel Energy Center, the home team has managed to hit the Canadiens 24 times (6.00 average per game), an unthinkable total for such a long distance. Even now, the Canadiens have a defensive problem, as evidenced by their 146 goals conceded in 40 league games (3.65 average per game), while the Wild have conceded 141 goals in 37 meetings (3.81 average per game). From this perspective, we suggest betting on an individual total over 4.5 for 2.55.
Joel Eriksson plays his sixth season for Minnesota and has a good chance of setting a new personal record. In 32 games played, the Swedish forward has already scored 21 points (12 goals + 9 assists), and there are only nine points left on his personal best record. The 24-year-old hockey player scored a goal against Chicago the day before, which only confirms his excellent form, so we suggest betting on Joel Eriksson total over 0.5 for 3.4.
Other predictions
