Wild vs. Oilers Odds
| Wild Odds | +150 |
| Oilers Odds | -185 |
| Over / Under | 6.5 -135 / +110 |
Here's everything you need to know about the Minnesota Wild vs. Edmonton Oilers on Friday, February 23 – our expert NHL prediction and pick.
The Wild will look to take advantage of an Oilers team starting their backup goaltender and claim two desperately needed points. Minnesota has stabilized with a 6-3-1 run, but will need to stretch its heater out much longer if it is to sneak into the final Western Conference wild-card spot.
The Oilers are also 6-3-1 in their past 10 and are a dominant 17-6-2 at Rogers Place this season.
Check out my Wild vs. Oilers best bet below.
Minnesota Wild
The All-Star break came at a good time for the Minnesota Wild, who struggled throughout January amid a nightmare injury situation. They are 6-1-1 since the break, with all six wins coming inside of regulation. They also own a league-leading 59.52 expected goals for percentage in those games.
Coach John Hynes has stacked Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy onto one, well-rounded top unit. Eriksson Ek and Boldy are both tremendous players at both ends of the rink and have benefitted significantly from Kaprizov's electric play with the puck in the offensive zone. In 174.4 minutes together, they own a 60.5% expected goal percentage.
Whether Filip Gustavsson can stabilize in goal is likely to be the key storyline that dictates whether the Wild sneak into the playoffs. After an incredible 2022-'23 season, Gustavsson has played to a -5.8 GSAx and a .894 save percentage across 33 appearances.
Edmonton Oilers
Throughout January, the Oilers were playing the most well-rounded game of any team in the league. The question moving forward, as Edmonton faces a far tougher schedule, is whether their concerns in goal and on defense will start to shine through.
Thursday's matchup versus Boston offered a potential glimpse into where the Oilers are at relative to other top contenders. There is no runaway favorite this season as eight teams are priced between +750 and +1000, and rightfully so in my opinion.
Cody Ceci playing 20 minutes a night on the back end is a clear flaw among the Oilers roster, and a quality right-handed defender would be a huge get at the deadline.
In eight games since the All-Star break, the Oilers own a 54.92% expected goal rating and have played to a 4-3-1 record.
Stuart Skinner hasn't been at his best in goal and is going to garner a rest in this matchup ahead of the Battle of Alberta tomorrow. Acquiring a quality second option to support Skinner at the deadline would be logical, but I don't think it's realistic for the Oilers to acquire a goaltender who can actually outperform Skinner.
And Calvin Pickard has done the trick recently, so it's not to say the Oilers would be that much better off with another backup. At least not if he continues to play at a similar level — he owns a 0.1 GSAx and a .910 save percentage in 10 games this season.
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Wild vs. Oilers
Betting Pick & Prediction
As the NHL gets into the stretch run, we typically see more closely contested games. The Oilers are worthy of being an outright cup favorite, but I'd firmly argue that the top sides are closer to the middle than people believe.
The Oilers were — by a wide margin — the league's best team throughout January, but took advantage of a notably dreadful schedule of opposing offenses. Its possible that their defensive play trends downward a bit and I think the Wild have some avenues to make this a contest.
This sets up as another time that I want to target a regulation tie at a long number. I like the chances the Wild play to their price and make it a contest, but I don't believe that will result in a multi-goal lead very often. The Oilers are also incredible at pressing for offense late, when all of the minutes are played by their elite talents.
I believe there is a better than 20% chance this game gets to overtime, so I think its a good game to target one of the most exciting bets in hockey.
Pick: Regulation Tie +410 (Play to +390)
