NHL betting favors the Minnesota Wild on Friday as they host the Atlanta Thrashers. This has been a very one-sided hockey betting series with Minnesota winning six of the last seven. Here is a look at this matchup on Friday between the Thrashers and Wild. NHL betting had Minnesota winning 4-2 in Atlanta back in October. The only win for Atlanta against the Wild since 2000 came last year as the Thrashers won 3-2 at home.
If you were betting Atlanta early in the season you might find a different looking team now. The Thrashers don’t have Ilva Kovalchuk any more as he was traded to New Jersey so don’t look for huge offensive numbers for Atlanta. The Thrashers are still rank 6th on offense, but those numbers are likely to slip without Kovalchuk. Atlanta is still in the playoff chase in the Eastern Conference as they are right with Philadelphia, the Rangers, Boston and Florida for the final spot.
For Atlanta to win they are going to have to start improving their defense and they need to play better at home. On the road, the Thrashers are just under .500 but they have been competitive in hockey betting. Whether or not that will continue with Kovalchuk is a huge question. The Thrashers don’t have a lot of star players so they are going to have to find some offense from somewhere since they don’t have a top notch goaltender.
Minnesota is a great NHL betting story. Somehow this team is very much in the playoff picture in the Western Conference. And the Wild has been great at home this season in NHL betting. The question is how are they doing it? The Wild is 15th in the league on offense and 21st in goals allowed. That would seem to indicate a team that is below .500 but that is not the case with Minnesota. Somehow the Wild are winning in NHL betting without much offense and without stout defense. Since Minnesota doesn’t have any star players and they have mediocre at best NHL betting stats, they are a great value team in hockey betting. You normally get a great price when you take the Wild and they have been a big money maker this season in hockey betting. They definitely have the edge in this series against Atlanta and they should get some action in NHL betting.