St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild Predictions, NHL Free Pick 2/23/2020

Game: St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild

Date: Sunday, February 23, 2020

Location: Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN

TV: NBCS

Odds/Point Spread: Blues (-117) Wild (+106)

Total/Over-Under: 5.5

Devan Dubnyk and the Minnesota Wild (29-24-7, 6th in the Central Division) play the St. Louis Blues (35-17-10, 1st in the Central Division) at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday, February 23, 2020. The moneyline on this matchup has the Blues coming in at -117 and the Wild are at +106. The O/U is set at 5.5. The Blues cover 55.7% of the time, having gone 34-27 SU. The Wild cover 46.6% of the time, going 27-31 straight up.

The St. Louis Blues head into this matchup with a record of 35 wins and 17 losses, which is good for 1st in the Central Division. So far this season, they have scored a total of 195 goals which is 2nd in the West and 9th in the league. Their goal differential is +25, which is good for 6th in the league. The Blues have a total of 80 pts, which is 5th in the league and 1st in the conference. In the matter of shots toward the net, they have a total of 1,910 which is 9th in the Western Conference and 17th in the league. As a unit, St. Louis has compiled a total of 1,219 hits which means they are averaging 19.7 per game. They have a total of 615 blocks for the season. The man protecting the goal for St. Louis is Jordan Binnington from Richmond Hill, Ontario. He is 26 years old and has played a total of 2,588 mins defending the net for the campaign. Binnington is allowing 2.60 goals against average which has him placed 6th among West goaltenders and 17th in the NHL among goaltenders. During this year, he has allowed 112 goals. He holds a save % of .911 which has him placed 16th among West goaltenders.

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The St. Louis Blues came out of this game feeling pretty good about themselves with a 5 - 1 win against the Dallas Stars in their last game. The Blues had a good offensive outing in the win. In this game, they scored on 5 out of the 23 shots they put on net. They also had 1 power play attempt but didn't get a goal. St. Louis earned a total of 12 penalty mins for this game. The Corsi for the Blues was 38 and the Corsi against was 34 which earned them a Corsi percentage of 52.8%. Their Fenwick sat at 27 and the Fenwick against was 23, which tells us they had a rate of 54.0%. They won 17 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 16 attempts to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 28.7% and they had a PDO of 117.9 for this matchup. Regarding their opponent, the Dallas Stars put up 19 shots. They had a total of 16 minutes in the box and they had 4 power play attempts.

The Wild are the team looking to add points to their total and for the season they have 29 victories and 24 losses. Regarding goal differential, they are sitting 10th in the Western Conference and 22nd in the league with -7. They currently have a total of 183 goals for the year which has them sitting at 8th in the conference. Minnesota has a team save % of .897 which currently has them sitting 28th in the league, meaning scoring chances could be plentiful if they are aggressive. They are shooting 10.2% which puts them at 4th in the conference. In goal for Minnesota is Devan Dubnyk who is having a tough campaign by surrendering 3.31 goals per game and that ranks him 32nd among Western Conference goalies and 63rd among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,541 minutes he's been on the ice this season, he has surrendered 85 goals. He holds a save % of .893, which has him placed 31st among Western Conference goalies and 61st among goalies in the NHL.

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The Minnesota Wild went up against the Edmonton Oilers in an outing where the Wild earned a win by a mark of 5 - 3. In this game, Minnesota earned a 48.1% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 52 and the other team having a Corsi of 56. Their Fenwick rate was 57.7% by way of having a Fenwick of 41 and the Oilers having a 30 Fenwick at even strength. This Corsi rating is telling of the kind of game that Minnesota played and they looked good in this game. Their PDO at even strength was 101.7 and they finished this one with an oZS percentage of 61.5%. The Wild scored 5 goals out of the 39 shots on goal they pursued. They had 2 power play opportunities in this game but weren't able to put one in the back of the net. Regarding their opponent, the Oilers had 2 power play chances but didn't tally a goal. Minnesota gave way to 26 shots on goal and the Oilers earned a total of 4 penalty minutes.

Who will win tonight's NHL game ATS?

Josh's Pick: Take Minnesota (+106)

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