Ice Hockey | Monday, October 17, 2022 8:59 AM (Revised at: Monday, October 17, 2022 9:00 AM)

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Best Bet: Light the Lamp to Start the Week

Contributor: Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo

US Sports Expert

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Best Bet: Monday, October 17th

The entire league enjoyed a Sunday off but it’s back to the grind for 18 teams on Monday to begin a long week of hockey. The regular season jitters are out of the way and our resident pucks pundit Ej Garr is ready to put up a big week himself. Get ready to light the lamp tonight in the North Star State.

In this article:

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Preview

October 18, 01:00 (UK time)

So, here I am sitting around the house watching my Saturday sports as usual, and if I am being honest I watched a lot of college football and playoff baseball for most of the day. I knew we had a monster Saturday slate of hockey, however, and I gave out 3 bets on my social platforms for folks to follow.

The Over with Anaheim and the Islanders, the Over with Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay as well as the Over with Minnesota and the LA Kings. Now, all 3 games light the lamp for me early and often and 3 – 0 was a nice way to head into this week for me.

Let me give out some of the general details before I get into the thick of the article.

Colorado (1 – 1 – 0 – 0 / 2 Points 5th Central Division) vs Minnesota (0 – 2 – 0 – 0 / 0 Points 7th Central Division)
Avalanche Offense: Rank 6th (4.00 AVG); Avalance Defense: 18th (3.50 AVG)
Wild Offense Rank 3rd 4.50 AVG); Wild Defense: 30th (7.00 AVG)
Expected Goalie Matchup: Colorado A Georgiev 1-0 2.01 GA 0.88 Sv % / Minnesota Marc Andre-Fleury 0-1 8.37 GAA 0.78 Sv %

I chose this game to profile today because of the ridiculousness we are now seeing with the Minnesota defense and the goalkeeping situation. The Kings were up 4 – 2 on the Wild before the end of the 1st period, and did you see the line on both teams to score in the 1st Period tonight? Oh, hello, does that say 2.40 if they play to a 1 – 1 in 20 minutes?

Listen, my big play of the night is this total at 6.5 with overtime included because the line is fair, and until I see a change in the Wild system. Gone are the days when the stifling defense of the Wild kept totals low during the campaign, and until I see otherwise I am expecting the scoring to continue against them. The Wild made a valiant comeback to make the score look better against LA on Saturday, but it was 7 – 4 until the late pair of goals made it 7 – 6. I said the late pair of goals made the score 7 to 6!

This match total is 6.5 and I saw 1.95 late Saturday night while the game was still going on. I had to see what the line setters could possibly be thinking after seeing a 4 – 2 1st period and 13 goals overall and 1.95 was all they asked. Considering that Minnesota has given up 7 goals to both the Rangers and Kings through 2 regular season games, what risk are we taking here with a 6.5 total with overtime included? Hell, it might be 3 – 3 going to the 2nd period the way Minnesota looks right now!

The Wild scored 2 goals in all 3 periods on Saturday, so they are not just giving up the goals they are getting into these wild, high-scoring shootouts now. I know, right? Minnesota and high-scoring games in the same sentence?!