Columbus Blue Jackets vs Minnesota Wild Prediction, 10/10/2024 NHL Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Minnesota Wild

Date: Thursday, October 10, 2024

Location: Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN

TV: Bally Sports North

The Columbus Blue Jackets (27-43-12 last season) are traveling to Xcel Energy Center on Thursday where they will take on the Minnesota Wild (39-34-9 last year).

The Columbus Blue Jackets will head into their next game feeling good after earning a 6-3 victory against the Hurricanes their last time out. Columbus tallied 10 penalty minutes in this matchup. The Blue Jackets had a good offensive outing and it showed in the victory. Additionally, they had 2 opportunities with more players on the ice but weren't able to net one. For the game, they scored on 6 out of the 25 shots they put on goal.

When playing at even strength, the Blue Jackets let the opposition score 242 goals while notching 202. Columbus Blue Jackets opponents had 236 power play tries (23rd in the league) and had a total of 56 goals in those chances. In the matter of their scoring capabilities, the Columbus Blue Jackets tallied 234 goals (25th in professional hockey) in the previous season surrendered 298. Columbus tried 2,458 shots and held a shot percentage of 9.5%. For last season, they finished with 66 points and their points percentage was at .402. The Blue Jackets had 2,822 shots tried against them and were the owners of a save percentage of .894. Columbus tallied 212 power play chances and added 32 goals out of those chances, earning them a rate of 15.09%.

The man in net for this game is Elvis Merzlikins. Merzlikins has taken the ice for 191 games throughout his professional hockey career. He has amassed a mark of 68-79-30 and he has started in 177 games. The opposition has scored 558 goals versus Merzlikins in his pro career and his goals against average per contest is 3.20. Merzlikins has had 5,819 shots against him and has recorded 5,261 saves. His save percentage sits at .904 in his 10,451 mins in the crease. In his professional hockey career, Merzlikins has recorded 85 quality starts and his rate for quality starts is .480.

In their last contest, Minnesota squared up with the Kraken in an outing where the Wild took the loss by a score of 4-3. The Wild notched 3 goals out of the 24 shots on goal they tried. They had 4 power play chances in this contest and scored 2 out of those attempts.

Minnesota attempted 2,471 shots (18th in the NHL) and had a shooting percentage of 10.04%, while allowing their opponent 2,437 shots. They earned a penalty kill percentage of 74.52% on the other team's 263 tries on the power play, and their save percentage came in at 89.3%. They had 273 power play opportunities and they have earned a power play percentage of 22.71%. The Wild scored 186 goals at even strength and 62 goals (8th in hockey) while having more men on the ice. They allowed 260 goals to be scored by way of 193 goals at even strength and 67 goals while they had less men on the ice. Last season, the Minnesota Wild finished the season with 248 goals, 87 points, in addition to a points percentage of .530.

For the opposition you are going to see Filip Gustavsson defending the goal. He has recorded 2,995 saves out of 3,284 shots taken against him, giving him a save percentage of .912. Gustavsson holds a lifetime record of 52-40-14 and has participated in 111 contests. He has made the start in 103 games and has played for a total of 6,358 mins. Gustavsson's quality start percentage comes out to 56.3% and he has earned 58 quality starts in his pro career. The opposition is averaging 2.73 goals per contest and he has relinquished 289 goals in total.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread or moneyline?

Tony's Pick: Take Columbus

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