Panthers look to regain confidence with win over Wild lead by red hot top line of Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe
The Panthers were riding high with a nine game winning streak with big wins against the Rangers, Avalanche, Kings and Golden Knights twice. Since they’ve lost three in a row, all at home, to a beat-up Devils team, the Ducks and a surging Red Wings team, that is starting to find their footing once again. They look to regain home ice and beat a Wild team with two wins in their last 11 games. The story of the Wild this year is a disappointing one with a desperate coaching change not enough to get them out of the basement of the league. Since John Hynes became the Minnesota bench boss, his team is 13-11-1 but still has difficulty scoring as they rank top ten in fewest goals per game with a 2.80 average during that span.
Both teams are desperate to get a win and move in the right direction. If you are looking to get in on the action and make some money while you are at home sitting on the couch, here are our best bets for tonight’s matchups between the Panthers and Wild.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Please gamble responsibly.
Pick: Panthers over 3.5 goals (-115)
These two met up earlier this season in the second game of the season with the Wild walking away with a 2-0 shutout win. This was thanks to a stellar 41-save performance from Wild netminder Filip Gustavsson and was one of his best games of the season since as he’s now on a three game losing streak that will likely put in veteran netminder Marc-Andre Fleury instead for this matchup.
The Panthers have improved drastically on offense with their hot streak and rank top five in offense with a 3.53 goals per game average that ties them with the Flames and puts them ahead of the Oilers, Bruins and Jets. The Wild haven’t had many low-scoring games since that Panthers win as they rank seventh-worst in goals against per game with a 3.39 average that is only two decimal points ahead of the Ducks. If the Cats win, they should win by a lot and play much more aggressively on offense this time around and should help them reach the over.
Pick: Sam Bennett over 0.5 points (-140)
The Panthers top guys have exploded in production with forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe dominating on their line with a combined 42 points in their last 15 games. They’ve been so dominant and get to play with Sam Bennett as their centre, who is also starting to find the scoresheet since coming back from injury with seven goals and 12 points in his last 15 games. He should see a boost from his line playing at the level they are at and at least get on the board once tonight.