Lightning vs Wild Predictions, Picks, Tips 1/16/2020

Game: Tampa Bay Lightning vs Minnesota Wild

Date: Thursday, January 16, 2020

Location: Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN

TV: NBCS

Odds/Point Spread: Lightning (-166) Wild (+150)

Total/Over-Under: 6.5

Xcel Energy Center is the site where Devan Dubnyk and the Minnesota Wild (20-20-6, 7th in the Central Division) will play the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-14-4, 2nd in the Atlantic Division) on Thursday. The Wild open this game at +150 while the Lightning are priced at -166. The over/under is set at 6.5. The Lightning are covering 59.1% of the time, having gone 26-18 SU. The Wild are covering 42.2% of the time, going 19-26 straight up.

The Tampa Bay Lightning step onto the ice holding a record of 28 victories and 14 losses, putting them at 2nd in the Atlantic Division. During the year thus far, they have converted a total of 164 goals which puts them at 2nd in the East and 2nd in the NHL. Their goal differential is +31, putting them at 3rd in the NHL. The Lightning have a total of 60 points, which puts them at 5th in the NHL and 4th in the East. When it comes to shots at the opposition, they have a total of 1,495 which puts them at 9th in the East and 14th in the NHL. As a group, Tampa Bay has compiled a total of 996 hits which means they have an average of 21.7 per contest. They have a total of 449 blocks for the year. The goaltender for Tampa Bay is Andrei Vasilevskiy from London, Ontario. He is 25 years old and has played 2,044 mins in net this season. Vasilevskiy is allowing 2.58 goals per game which puts him at 10th among Eastern Conference goalies and 18th in the NHL among goalies. So far this year, he has given up 88 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .916 which puts him at 10th among Eastern Conference goalies.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning went home feeling good about their game by earning a 4 - 3 win over the Los Angeles Kings in their previous contest. The Lightning had a solid offensive output and it showed in this win. For this game, they scored on 4 of the 38 shots they tried. Furthermore, they had 2 power play chances but weren't able to score. Tampa Bay racked up 6 penalty mins in their game. The Corsi for the Lightning sat at 50 and the Corsi against was 49 giving them a Corsi percentage of 50.5%. Their Fenwick was 40 and the Fenwick against was 40, which means they had a Fenwick percentage of 50.0%. They won 25 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 29 of the face-offs. Their offensive zone starts were rated at 59.4% and they had a PDO of 103.6 for this one. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Los Angeles Kings put up 41 shots. They finished with a total of 4 minutes in the box and they notched 3 power play opportunities.

The Wild will be on the other side of the ice and for the season they sit with 20 victories and 20 losses. In the matter of goal differential, they are sitting 12th in the conference and 25th in the NHL with -18. They have earned a total of 137 goals for the year which has them sitting at 8th in the West. Minnesota has a team save % of .893 which has them sitting 27th in the NHL, which tells us there could be plenty of chances to score if they are aggressive. They have a team shooting percentage of 10.1% putting them at 5th in the West. In net for Minnesota is Devan Dubnyk who is having a bad campaign by allowing 3.35 goals against average and that places him 32nd among West goalies and 62nd in the NHL among goalies. In the 1,237 mins he has played, he's surrendered 69 goals. His save percentage is .892, which ranks him 31st among West goalies and 60th in the NHL among goalies.

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The Minnesota Wild played the Pittsburgh Penguins in an outing where the Wild went home in defeat by a final of 7 - 3. In their game, Minnesota had a 50.7% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by earning a Corsi of 34 while their opponent had a Corsi of 33. They had a Fenwick percentage of 47.5% with a Fenwick of 28 and the Penguins ending the game with a 31 Fenwick. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Minnesota played and you could say that they played like a middle of the road team. They had a PDO at even strength of 87.0 and they had an oZS percentage of 33.3%. The Wild scored 3 goals of the 29 shots on goal they were seeking. They had 2 power play opportunities in this game and converted 1 out of those tries. On the other side of the ice, the Penguins had 4 power play opportunities and used that advantage to score 2 goals. Minnesota gave way to 29 shots on goal and the Penguins had 4 penalty minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Josh's Pick: Take Minnesota (+150)

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