There’s something funny going on in the NHL these days. We had a two-day reprieve from overtime wagers and then got hit with another five on Tuesday’s 10-game slate. Underdogs were even more trendy, with eight of 10 dogs cashing last night too. All things considered, it was a profitable Tuesday night in the Chell. It’s a much quieter schedule today as we only have three games to choose from.
These are the wagers we’re looking at from FanDuel Sportsbook!
The Minnesota Wild kick off a three-game in four-night road trip, starting tonight in Arizona against the Coyotes. That could spell trouble for a Wild team that is struggling through their road schedule.
Across all strengths, the Wild have been outplayed in three of their past five games. Typically, the Wild rely on strong defensive zone coverage to limit their opponents, but that has been absent from their road efforts. Minnesota has given up 10 or more high-danger chances in three of their past five, for an average of 11.2 per game. Worse, they’ve been out-chanced in four of those games and are averaging just 9.2 quality chances over their recent sample.
Scoring chances and shots are also flowing abundantly in their opponents’ favor, as the Wild have given up 30 or more scoring chances and shots in four of five, with Minny getting outworked in three of five. That could hurt them on night one of their back-to-back, with Kaapo Kahkonen and his 86.0% save percentage in net.
There is no sugar-coating how bad the Coyotes will be this season, and that’s reflected in their early outcomes. The Desert Dogs are 1-10-1 through their first 12 games; however, they have posted expected goals-for percentages above 50.0% in five of those games. When we filter down to home games, the Coyotes have outplayed their opponents in two of four games.
We have to be choosy when backing the Coyotes this season, but as +176 underdogs on home ice, with their opponent starting their backup tendy on the first night of a back-to-back, is one of those spots. Don’t be surprised if this one gets sorted out in overtime.
The Picks: Coyotes +176, 60-Minute Tie +340
