Minnesota Wild at New Jersey Devils Free NHL Picks & Odds
by Josh Schonwald - 3/19/2014
Thursday, March 20, 6:00 PM on FXN+, MSG+
Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
For Updated Odds on This Game Click Here
At the beginning of the season, the Minnesota Wild did not put a lot of stock into Josh Harding being their top goaltender. As of right now, he is the best in the league in saves and helped the Wild along to a shutout victory against the New Jersey Devils when they met in November. Harding stopped 19 shots for his second shutout of the season.
In that game, New Jersey started off controlling the first five minutes with six shots on goal. But after that they would go for another eight minutes with no shots on goal including missing out on two power-play opportunities in that time span. It was 13:20 into the period when the Wild scored on a shot from Mikael Granlund that slipped past goalie Cory Schneider. The shot was assisted by Nin Niederreiter and Jason Pominville. In the second period, Torrey Mitchell got a chance to score his first goal of the season when he grabbed a loose puck in front of the net and then popped it in to put the Wild up by two.
In the third period, Dany Heatley scored his first non-empty net goal of the season by redirecting Keith Ballard's shot. Pominville, who was very active in the game, including assisting Granlund in the first goal of the game, found himself in the fortunate situation of seeing an empty net with 2:25 to play. That goal made it his sixth goal in the past four games and gave the Wild the win.
ATS Trends
Minnesota is 13-21 straight up on the road this season
Minnesota is 10-15-9 against the over/under on the road this season
New Jersey is 16-16 straight up at home this season
New Jersey is 12-15-5 against the over/under at home this season
Injuries to Watch
Minnesota
03/12/14 LW Jason Zucker Leg out indefinitely
03/05/14 GO Niklas Backstrom Abdominal out for season
01/06/14 GO Josh Harding Illness out indefinitely
New Jersey
11/29/13 D Adam Larsson Knee out indefinitely
03/18/14 LW Ryan Carter Upper Body questionable Thursday vs Minnesota
Josh's Pick: Take Minnesota
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