The Minnesota Wild play the second leg of their Florida road trip as they face the Florida Panthers. It is time to continue our NHL odds series with a Wild-Panthers prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.

The Wild come into this game as a part of back-to-back games in Florida. Before the game with the Lightning, they were 18-20-5 on the year, but have lost four of their last five in that time frame. Meanwhile, they were shut out twice in that period. This will be the second time that the Wild will play the Panthers this year. They opened the season with a game against the Panthers, winning in a 2-0 shutout on October 12th.

Meanwhile, the Panthers come into the game sitting at 27-13-4 on the year. That places them in second in the Atlantic division. While they have won nine of their last 12, they come in on a three-game losing streak. Last time out they faced the Detroit Red Wings. While there were no goals in the first period, Sam Reinhart scored shorthanded to open the scoring. Still, the Red Wings would tie the game up on a Michael Rasmussen, but the Panthers would score to make it 2-1 heading to the second. In the third, Robby Fabbri tied the game, and in overtime, Dylan Larkin would score on the power play to win the game for the Red Wings.

Here are the NHL Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NHL Odds: Wild-Panthers Odds

Minnesota Wild: -1.5 (+164)

Moneyline: +152

Florida Panthers: -1.5 (+136)

Moneyline: -184

Over: 5.5 (-132)

Under: 5.5 (+108)

How to Watch Wild vs. Panthers

Time: 7:00 PM ET/ 4:00 PM PT

TV: ESPN+/NHLPP

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Wild Will Cover The Spread/Win

Note: Statistics are before the Minnesota Wild game with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, January 18th. 

The Wild are 25th in the NHL in goals per game this year, with 2.86 goals per contest on the season. Joel Eriksson Ek leads the team in goals this year. He comes in with 17 goals and 13 assists this year, good for third on the team in points with 30. He has been wonderful on the power play this year with eight goals and two assists this year. Meanwhile,  The Wild is led in points by Kirill Kaprizov. He comes in with 13 goals on the year and 22 assists this year good for 35 points. He has five goals and 11 assists on the power play this year.

Further, Matt Boldy is also playing well this year. He comes in with 15 goals and 13 assists this year, good for 28 total points on the year. He has scored five times on the power play with four assists this year. Mats Zuccarello is also having a great year. He comes in with seven goals and 25 total assists, with two goals and 15 assists on the power play this year. Rounding out the top scorers are Marco Rossi and Ryan Hartman. Rossi comes in with 12 goals and 12 assists this year, good for 24 total points. Hartman has 13 goals and nine assists this year, good for 22 points.

The Wild sit 20th in the NHL on the power play, sitting with an 18.8 percent success rate with 27 power-play goals this year. They are also 28th in the NHL on the penalty kill this year, with a 72.8 percent success rate this year.

The Wild decided to move Filip Gustavsson into the starting position for the game with the Lightning. With that, it can be expected that Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in goal for this one. He is 8-9-3 on the year with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .897 save percentage. Fleury has been struggling, allowing three or more goals in four straight games until last time out. Last time out, he saved all 21 shots he faced for a shutout victory.

Why The Panthers Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Panthers sit 16th in the NHL this year in goals per game, scoring 3.14 per game. Sam Reinhart leads the way this year in goals and points, while he sits third in assists. He has 33 goals on the year, good for second in the NHL. Reinhart also comes in with 23 assists to give him 56 points. He has also been amazing on the power play this year, with 16 goals on the power play and four assists. Reinhart also has two shorthanded goals this year.  Aleksander Barkov sits second on the team in points this year, leading the team in assists. He has 11 goals on the year, with 35 assists. He has been a big part of the power play as well, sitting with one goal and 14 assists on the power play this season.

Meanwhile, Carter Verhaghe is second on the team in goals this year, while sitting third in total points. He has 23 goals this year with 20 assists for 43 total points.  He also is second on the team in power-play goals, coming in with six of them. Also contributing well is Matthew Tkachuk. He comes in with 12 goals this year, but 30 assists on the season, making him one of four guys on the team with 40 or more points. Further, Evan Rodrigues has been solid, sitting with seven goals and 20 assists this year.

The Panthers sit 13th in the NHL this year in power play conversion. They have converted 22.8 percent of their chances, with 33 power-play goals. Meanwhile, on the penalty kill, they are fifth in the NHL with an 84.4 percent success rate.

Sergei Bobrovsky will be in goal for the Panthers. He is 21-10-2 on the year with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Bobrovsky is ninth in the NHL in goals against average this year. Last time out he was solid but not great, saving just 26 of 29 shots, and taking the loss to the Red Wings in overtime.

Final Wild-Panthers Prediction & Pick

The Panthers get a lucky break in this one. First, the Wild will be playing back-to-back games. Second, the Wild are playing Filip Gustavsson in the first part of the back-to-back, even though Fleury was scheduled. Marc-Andre Fleury is the weaker of the two goalies coming into this one. Meanwhile, the Panthers have been solid on defense this year, limiting chances for other teams. If Sergei Bobrovsky can play well in this game, the Panthers will get the win.

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Final Wild-Panthers Prediction & Pick: Panthers ML (-184)