The Toronto Maple Leafs might be hitting a mid-season wall as they have lost three games in a row now before defending home ice tonight against a strong Minnesota Wild team. The last time these two teams met, the Wild won 4-3 at home. Toronto is currently sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division with 68 points while Minnesota is also in third place in the Central Division with 65 points. This will look to be a pretty good matchup, so it’s time to continue our NHL odds series with a Wild-Maple Leafs prediction and pick.

Click here for our Risk Free $1000 Bet!

*To claim, new users need to register, make a first deposit, and then simply place their first real-money wager on FanDuel Sportsbook up to $1000! If a user loses their first wager, we’ll refund their losses in the form of a free bet up to $1000!*

Here are the Wild-Maple Leafs NHL Odds, Courtesy of FanDuel

NHL Odds: Wild-Maple Leafs Odds

Minnesota Wild: +1.5 (-200) (+122 ML)

Toronto Maple Leafs: -1.5 (+160) (-146 ML)

Over: 6.5 (-128)

Under: 6.5 (+102)

*Watch NHL Games LIVE with fuboTV (click for free trial)

Why The Wild Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Minnesota Wild have started to become wildly inconsistent, after coming off of a 4-3 loss to the much inferior Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, but then punching the Edmonton Oilers in the throat the game before that by winning 7-3. In fact, Minnesota has lost three of its last four contests with tonight being their third game in five days. However, the fatigue shouldn't stop this third-ranked offense in the league, scoring 3.79 goals per game. But they will have their hands full defensively as they're averaging 3.00 goals-against per game coming into a game against a very strong Toronto offense.

To stop such a strong offense, the Wild will more than likely look to goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen to shut down the scoring opportunities. He's not the confirmed starter yet, but Cam Talbot has been playing a lot of games lately and needs some rest. Kahkonen is 12-3-2 on the season repping a .921 save percentage and allowing 2.56 goals against. He'll be Minnesota's last hope at stopping such an explosive offense tonight.

Why The Maple Leafs Can Cover The Spread/Win

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a rough patch as they've currently on a three-game losing streak after losing to Columbus 4-3 in overtime. The Leafs will look to turn things around tonight as they look to improve their defense against a high-powered offense in Minnesota. The Leafs can score goals, but if they want their losing streak to end, they're going to have to focus on preventing goals first as they've allowed 15 goals in the last three games. Most of which came from poor goaltending as there is not a named starter for tonight, but one can assume it would be their starter, Jake Campbell, who is 23-8-4 on the season so far with a .920 save percentage and allowing 2.46 goals past him per game. The Maple Leafs will once again rely on him to stand on his head against a top threat team in Minnesota.

Final Wild-Maple Leafs Prediction & Pick

Both of these teams have been playing well overall, but just can't seem to walk away with wins. Minnesota should've won against Ottawa but came out the gates slow. I expect them to come out buzzing early on and set a tone for the rest of the game. Toronto just hasn't been playing well defensively lately and I think this is good value for the Wild to pull off an “upset” on the road tonight.

Final Wild-Maple Leafs Prediction & Pick: Wild (+122 ML)