Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues Game 3 Preview
Where: Scottrade Center — St. Louis, Missouri
When: Sunday, April 16, 2017, 3:00 PM ET
Line: Minnesota Wild (-105) at St. Louis Blues (-115); total: 5.0 – view all NHL lines
TV Broadcast(s): NBC / RSN / TVA
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Betting on the Minnesota Wild
The results haven’t been favorable, but the Minnesota Wild should be happy about Zach Parise’s play in this series. He’s their only consistent source of offense thus far, scoring each of the team’s lone goals in the first two games.
Parise now has five goals, nine points and 37 shots in his last 14 games, dating back to the regular season. Minnesota will likely need more from their superstar to finally make a mark in the series.
Apart from him, another guy the Wild desperately need to be great, especially in clutch time, is goalie Devan Dubnyk. He’s allowed four goals in seven periods of action, including the overtime session in the opener, which is a relatively decent effort.
Then again, it’s going to take more than a decent performance out of Dubnyk to help his team overcome its current predicament: Minny is down 0-2, and has managed only once to comeback and win once from such a situation in 2014 versus Colorado.
Betting on the St. Louis Blues
Teams with a 2-0 lead in most, if not all sports usually end up winning the series itself. That’s the favorable position that the St. Louis Blues are in now, but they can’t take it for granted.
They’ve won the first two games—both on the road—because of their stifling efforts on the defensive end, and especially from the very steady display of goaltender Jake Allen who has negated 74 of 76 shots in the series, while having yet to permit a goal during 5-on-5 situations.
The Blues’ defense was particularly sharp in Game 2, during which they limited Minnesota to just 24 shots in total—more than a half less after the Wild finished with a 52-26 advantage in the series opener.
Joel Edmundson has been the brightest spot on offense with a pair of scores in the first two games, including the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 1.
Writer’s Prediction
Minnesota (-105) responds with a big win here, 3-1.
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