Minnesota Wild vs Utah Mammoth Prediction: Best Bet for Tuesday
Utah scores 3.83 goals per game and allows 3.33, and its last five games produced 40 goals in total, for and against. Minnesota brings the opposite profile into the Delta Center: 2.31 goals allowed per game, a 13-goal Kirill Kaprizov, and a goaltender who has won seven of his 11 starts while the starter sits on long-term injured reserve.
The Matchup
Utah plays the most entertaining hockey on Tuesday's slate, which is not the same as the most reliable. The Mammoth score 3.83 goals per game and allow 3.33, and their last five games finished 4-2, 2-6, 5-4, 3-5 and 5-4.
Clayton Keller leads Utah with 15 points, Mikhail Sergachev has 14 from the blue line, and Nick Schmaltz has 13. The problem lives in net. Karel Vejmelka is 6-3 but with a 3.13 goals-against average and an .878 save percentage, and Sebastian Cossa sits at 3.33 and .820. Utah wins shootouts because it has to.
Minnesota is the corrective. The Wild allow 2.31 goals per game, second-stingiest on the slate, and they score enough at 3.15. Kirill Kaprizov has 13 goals and 21 points in 13 games, Quinn Hughes has 16 points with 13 assists, and Matt Boldy has 11 points. The crease story is the season's nicest surprise.
Filip Gustavsson is on long-term injured reserve after hip surgery, and Jesper Wallstedt has simply taken the job, going 7-2 with a 2.08 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage in 11 starts. Minnesota won 5-1 at Seattle and 4-2 over Vancouver in its last two.
Key Factors
Special teams decide which version of chaos shows up. Utah's power play converts at 38.1 percent, a frightening number, and Minnesota kills at a merely decent 80.5 percent, so Wild penalties are Utah's best path. The reverse matchup is worse for the home team.
Utah kills penalties at 66.7 percent, the weakest unit in this game, and Minnesota's power play converts at 26.2 percent with Kaprizov and Hughes running it. If the whistles are even, Minnesota's special-teams edge outweighs Utah's, because the Wild kill only has to be ordinary while the Mammoth kill has to be something it has not been all season.
Availability thins Minnesota's defense at the worst time. Brock Faber is on injured reserve, Marcus Foligno is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and Nick Foligno is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. Against a team that attacks in waves like Utah, a shortened blue line gets exposed in the third period. Utah is without John Marino, who is out with an upper-body injury, and Michael Carcone is on injured reserve.
The counterpoint is the building and the style. Utah is 4-1-0 at home, its crowd feeds on track-meet hockey, and Minnesota's structure has cracked before in high-event games. If Vejmelka gives Utah even an average night, the Mammoth can score their way past a Wild team missing Faber. Minnesota's whole case is that Wallstedt plus the power play turns chaos into arithmetic, and arithmetic favors the better goaltender.
Utah's games are wild, but wild games favor the team with the goaltender, and Wallstedt's edge here is the widest one available. Utah's penalty kill gives Kaprizov and Hughes a lane all night. Take the Minnesota Wild moneyline at +105.
Game information
| DATE | Tuesday (10/27) |
|---|---|
| START TIME | 8:00 PM CT |
| HOW TO WATCH | NHL |
| VENUE | Delta Center |
| TOTAL | 6.5 |
| MONEYLINE | Minnesota Wild ML |
More picks this week
Player props for this game
2 props- Matt Boldy Shots On GoalOver 3.5 +127
- Kirill Kaprizov GoalsOver 0.5 +125
Every pick is published with its line before the game. Odds via consensus sportsbooks at time of writing and move constantly. Must be 21+. If gambling is a problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.