Tampa Bay Lightning at Minnesota Wild NHL Picks & Predictions 1/20/2018

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Xcel Energy Center

Get todays NHL hockey odds on this game.

The Tampa Bay Lightning head to Xcel Energy Center to take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, January 20, 2018. The opening line for this contest has the Lightning at -120 and the Wild at +109.

Tampa Bay has a record of 31-11-3 this year and away from home they have a record of 14-6-2-2. They are 1st in the Atlantic Division. They have tallied 162 goals and surrendered 116 goals for a point differential of +46. For the year they have an ATS mark of 31-14-0 and an over/under record of 26-19-0. Minnesota has a record of 24-17-5 including 15-4-4-0 on home ice this year. They are 6th in the Central Division. They've scored 133 goals and have given up 131 for a goal differential of +2. Their record against the spread is 24-22-0 while their over/under mark is 23-21-0.

Valuable Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Trends

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 31-14-0 straight up this year

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 26-19-0 against the over/under this season

Important Minnesota Wild Betting Trends

The Minnesota Wild are 24-22-0 straight up this year

The Minnesota Wild are 23-21-0 against the over/under this season

Key Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

12/30/17 GO Peter Budaj Leg IR (12/29)
01/12/18 D Victor Hedman Lower Body is out indefinitely

Key Minnesota Wild Injuries

01/09/18 RW Nino Niederreiter Lower Body is out indefinitely

Player Spotlight

Brayden Point has scored 40 total points this year for the Lightning. He has 17 goals this season with 107 shots on net, giving him a shooting percentage of 16%. He has a total of 23 assists on the year and averages 19.1 minutes played per contest. Nikita Kucherov averages 20.3 minutes of ice time per game this season. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 17% by tallying 27 goals on 157 attempts. He has 34 assists, giving him a total of 61 points on the year. Andrei Vasilevskiy has 27 wins and 8 losses this season in goal for the Lightning. He has 1,161 shots against him and he's surrendered 83 goals. He's made 1,078 stops for a save percentage of 93%.

Player Spotlight

Eric Staal has 38 total points this season for the Wild. He has 19 goals this year with 130 shots on goal, giving him a shooting percentage of 15%. He has a total of 19 assists on the year and averages 18.2 minutes played per contest. Jason Zucker averages 17.3 minutes of ice time per contest. In that time he has a shooting percentage of 15% by scoring 17 goals on 115 attempts. He has 16 assists, giving him a total of 33 points on the year. Devan Dubnyk has 17 wins and 9 losses this season in net for the Wild. He has 924 shots against him and he's given up 75 goals. He's made 849 saves for a save percentage of 92%.

Useful Team Statistics

The Lightning have 65 total points this year, which is 1st in the NHL. They've scored 162 goals while giving up 116 scores, which has them ranked 1st and 29th respectively. They have had 160 power play chances and scored 39 goals on those opportunities for a percentage of 24%. That is 3rd in the league. The Lightning have given up 147 power play opportunities and surrendered 30 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 80%, ranking them 21st when short-handed. They average 33 shots per contest and as a team shoot 10.87% for the year. They allow 31 shot attempts to their opposition per game and have a team save percentage of 92%, which is 4th in the league.

Useful Team Statistics

The Wild are 16th in the league with a total of 53 points this season. They have 27 power play goals on 141 chances for a percentage of 19%. That is 15th in the NHL. They've given up 173 power play opportunities and surrendered 29 goals on those chances for a penalty kill percentage of 83%, ranking 8th overall. As a team, the Wild are 16th with a total of 133 goals scored while they've given up 131 goals this season, ranking 16th in goals against. They average 30 shots per game and have a team shooting percentage of 9.75%. As a unit they give up 32 shots per contest and have a save percentage of 91%, putting them 14th overall in the NHL.

Advanced Statistics

Tampa Bay has a Corsi percentage of 52.6% as they've tried 2,808 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 2,532 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. That ranks them 3rd in Corsi percentage. They are 6th in the NHL in Fenwick percentage with 52.5% as they have 2,107 shots while they've given up 1,910 attempts on defense. The Lightning start possessions in the offensive zone 54.2% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 45.8% for the year. That puts them 6th and 29th in the league in zone percentages respectively. They have 1,321 face-off wins as opposed to 1,495 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 46.9%. That is 30th overall in the NHL. On defense Tampa Bay has 883 hits and they've blocked 622 attempts from opposing offenses, which is 23rd in the league.

Advanced Statistics

The Wild start possessions in the offensive zone 47.9% of the time while their defensive zone percentage is at 52.1% for the year. That ranks them 26th and 6th respectively in the NHL. They have 1,386 face-off wins as opposed to 1,371 losses, meaning their face-off win percentage is 50.3%. That is 18th in the league. On defense Minnesota has 790 hits and they've blocked 724 attempts from opposing offenses, ranking them 4th in blocked shots. Minnesota is ranked 31st in Corsi percentage with 46.1% as they've tried 2,382 shots on goal while at full strength while they have surrendered 2,785 shots on net when they have a full team on the ice. Their Fenwick percentage is 29th in the NHL at 47.2%, as they have 1,844 shots while they've given up 2,061 attempts on defense.

Who will win tonight's Lightning/Wild NHL game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take Tampa Bay -120

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