NHL Playoffs Game 6 Odds & Prediction: Expect Plenty of Offense in Game 6 (May 12)

Wild vs. Blues Game 6 Odds

We have a potential series-clinching matchup as the St. Louis Blues host the Minnesota Wild with a 3-2 series lead. The total has gone over 6.5 in three of the past four games, including St. Louis' 5-2 win on Tuesday.

Will we see another high-scoring affair between these two teams, or can the goaltending step up this time around?

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild enter this contest in an obvious must-win situation with their season on the line. Led by star forward Kirill Kaprizov, I expect to see Minnesota's offense come up big in this game after struggling over the past two outings.

Minnesota scored just two goals in each of its past two games and will need the offensive production to pick up if it wants any chance of keeping up with St. Louis' firepower. The good news for the Wild is that positive regression should be coming because Minnesota has generated many high-danger scoring chances over those two outings.

Despite only scoring four goals total between Games 4 and 5, Minnesota generated 5.38 expected goals for (xGF). In this game, we should expect to see Marc-Andre Fleury in net for the Wild.

Fleury is coming off of back-to-back poor outings, having allowed eight goals on 64 shots (0.875 save percentage) between Games 4 and 5. While Cam Talbot could definitely get the start in Game 6 in an effort to change things up for Minnesota and provide a spark, there are no reports that the Wild are going to do so.

St. Louis Blues

Looking to close out the series on home ice, I expect St. Louis' offense to keep rolling. Over their past two games, the Blues have scored 10 total goals and are looking to continue that hot streak.

Boasting the deepest offense in the league, St. Louis is no stranger to high-scoring games as they ranked third in the league during the regular season in goals scored per game. On the other hand, we could see some regression defensively.

St. Louis' blue line has been banged up all series and both Marco Scandella and Torey Krug are still day-to-day on the injury report. Despite playing with a thin defense, the Blues have been able to limit Minnesota's scoring.

This has been shocking considering how good Minnesota's forward group is and how St. Louis has struggled in its defensive zone all season. The Blues rank just 25th in the league in five-on-five expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA).

Wild vs. Blues Pick

I think we get a much better performance from Minnesota's offense in Game 6. As long as we get at least three goals from Minnesota, we should have no worries about St. Louis scoring at least four.

These two teams have had high-scoring games all year as six of their eight meetings went over 6.5 total goals. St. Louis has scored four or more goals against Minnesota in six of those eight games, while Minnesota has scored four or more goals in four of those eight games.

With the trends backing the over and both of these extremely talented offenses, there is no reason to think this game does not get to at least seven goals.

Pick: Wild/Blues o6.5 (-105) | Play up to (-120)