The Minnesota Wild are road favorites on Sunday afternoon, as they visit the Detroit Red Wings on NBC. The Wild broke a five-game losing streak by defeating San Jose on Tuesday night but it still appears the Wild are going to finish behind Chicago in the Central Division. On the other side, the Red Wings are going to miss the playoffs, ending their 25-year streak. The Wild and Red Wings have split their last ten meetings.
Don't miss the ice action from Joe Louis Arena at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 26, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on NBC.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Sunday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Wild are not in the best spot in this game, as they are playing their third game in four days and with no rest, as they were home against Vancouver on Saturday night. Minnesota is 20-17 on the road this season with 19 games going over, 13 going under, with five pushes.
The Red Wings are in a much better spot, as they had Saturday off after playing at home against Tampa on Friday. The problem for Detroit is that they haven’t played well at home this season, as they are 14-21 at home with 14 games going over, 18 going under with three pushes.
Detroit is not going to make the playoffs but they are still playing hard and they can beat good teams, as was the case earlier this week when they beat Montreal. Defenseman Niklas Kromwall said that it is very important to play the right way. “Now might be more important than ever, doing the right things, getting the right habits down,” Kronwall said. “If you start faulting on that, then the guys that are coming up right now, they see that and they think that’s the norm. Nobody is happy with where we are at, points and standings wise. There is great character in the room. Guys work hard.”
Special Teams
The Wild are 9th in the league on the power play at 21.3% and they are 2nd in the league in goals scored at 3.2 per contest. The Wild are also very good on the penalty kill at 83.9%, which is 7th in the league. The Wild give up just 2.5 goals per game and that is 7th in the league.
Detroit is awful on the power play, as they are next to last in the league at 14%. They average just 2.4 goals per game, which is 26th in the NHL. The Red Wings are 12th in penalty killing at 81.5% and they are 25th in the league in goals allowed at three per game.
Goalie Report
The Wild could decide to give their backup goaltender some action on Sunday since they played on Saturday night. We just don’t know, but there is a good chance that whoever played in goal on Saturday will rest on Sunday. The number one goaltender for Minnesota is Devan Dubynk who is 37-21 with a 2.17 goals against average, while Darcy Kuemper is 7-7 with a 3.21 goals against average.
The Red Wings have Jimmy Howard back from injury and he has been solid when he plays. He is 8-9 with a 1.91 goals against average. The backup Petr Mrazek is 16-27 with a 3.01 goals against average. Howard actually has the top save percentage and top goals against average among NHL goaltenders who have played at least 20 games.
“Howie looks every bit as good as he maybe has ever been,” Kronwall said. “He has looked real solid all these games he has played, and he is playing just as good as he was before he went down with the injury. Feels very, very comforting to have him back there. “
Free NHL Picks
I can’t back Detroit even though they have played better of late and Howard is healthy. Minnesota is the better team and even if it is Kuemper in goal, I will still take the Wild.
NHL Odds: Wild 3, Red Wings 2
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