The Vancouver Canucks will head east as they will be hosted by the Minnesota Wild for tonight’s matchup. This will be the second meeting between these two teams this season where the Wild won the first matchup 3-2 back in late October. Both of these teams are fighting for a playoff spot, so this should be a very good matchup. With that, it’s time to continue our NHL odds series with a Canucks-Wild prediction and pick.

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Here are the Canucks-Wild NHL Odds, Courtesy of FanDuel

NHL Odds: Canucks-Wild Odds

Vancouver Canucks: +1.5 (-154) (+176 ML)

Minnesota Wild: -1.5 (+126) (-215 ML)

Over: 6 (-122)

Under: 6 (+100)

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Why The Canucks Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Vancouver Canucks enter this contest on the second half of a road back-to-back after last night’s win against the Colorado Avalanche. Since veteran goaltender Jaroslav Halak got the start last night, we should expect to see star Thatcher Demko between the pipes tonight in Minnesota. On the season, Demko is representing a .916 save percentage and allowing 2.68 goals against per game on the season but typically doesn’t play too well on the road, dropping his save percentage to .906. With that said, high-scoring games are nothing new for the Canucks as they have seen six or more total goals scored in 15 of their last 19 games. They’re going to have to keep it high-scoring tonight if they want to beat out a streaky Wild team.

Why The Wild Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Minnesota Wild continue their nine-game homestand tonight where they have seen plenty of high-scoring games, having six or more total goals scored in 14 of their last 18 games. Most of those games can be credited towards the Wild’s high-scoring offense, averaging 3.7 goals per game. However, their goaltending is shaky at best. They just traded for future Hall of Fame goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury from Chicago at the trade deadline, but he isn’t ready to start for Minnesota just yet. Until he’s ready, we should see Cam Talbot get the starts as he’s been wildly (no pun intended) inconsistent this season. Currently, he’s averaging 2.84 goals against per game with a .910 save percentage. He’ll look to improve tonight against a very hungry Canucks team who is still on the hunt for a playoff spot.

Final Canucks-Wild Prediction & Pick

Both of these teams love to cash in on overs. In fact, throughout the season, the Minnesota Wild are 37-22-2 when it comes to hitting the over total numbers, and even 20-7-1 at home. The Vancouver Canucks are actually 31-32-2 on the season for going over the total listed goals, but 19-13-1 on the road. I think this is a great matchup for both of these teams to flex their offensive powers a little bit, so give me the over in this matchup while the odds are still relatively decent.

Final Canucks-Wild Prediction and Pick: Over 6 (-122)