The Minnesota Wild will be hoping to end a two-game losing skid on Friday when they return home to face the surprising Philadelphia Flyers. The puck is scheduled to drop at 8 PM EST at Xcel Energy Center in Minny. Minnesota just dropped back-to-back games to the Dallas Stars and barely scored a goal in the process, losing 4-0 and 7-2. They really need to respond here. Philly meanwhile took down the Montreal Canadiens in a shootout on Wednesday evening and has actually been one of the better teams in the Metropolitan Division in 2023-24. We’ll get into that more below. Continue reading for the Flyers vs Wild picks.
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Despite having a worst record, the Wild are favored at home with -118 moneyline odds for an implied win probability of 54.13%. The Flyers return at +105 and have a 48.78% chance of taking this one. As for head-to-head, Philly has won two straight meetings but Minny was unbeaten in three before that. The Flyers beat the Wild 6-2 at the beginning of the campaign.
I don’t think anyone would’ve thought Philadelphia would be a potential playoff team this season, but that’s very much the case. The Flyers sit at 21-14-6 which is good enough for third in the always competitive Metropolitan. And although they’ve gone just 3-4-3 in their last 10 games, this is still a solid squad that relies a lot on their elite blue line. The Philly defense is allowing only 2.76 goals per night, which is the seventh-lowest mark in the NHL. They also allow fewer than 30 shots per game.
Offensively, it is a different story and that’s part of the reason the Flyers aren’t better. John Tortorella’s group ranks 25th in goals with a mere 2.83 per game and they haven’t scored more than three goals in a single contest since December 28th. The struggles are real. Travis Konecny is having a career year with 21 goals and 16 assists for a total of 37 points. Joel Farabee meanwhile has 30 points and ranks second in scoring. There’s a decent-sized group of guys who are productive offensively, but they do need more balance.
Philly wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders on Wednesday. The Habs took a 2-1 lead into the second period before the Flyers tied it up. In the shootout, Sean Couturier scored the lone goal to win it for the Flyers. That being said, there is reason to be pessimistic as a bettor about Philadelphia heading into Friday. They’re only 2-5 SU in the last seven meetings with Minnesota and aren’t playing great hockey at the moment. Something to keep in mind.
Minnesota is far from a contender this season and that’s evident by their 17-19-4 record, which puts them in seventh place in the Central Division. Injuries are definitely taking their toll on the Wild, who just lost Kirill Kaprizov for a few weeks due to an upper-body injury. He has been the best player on this roster, scoring 13 goals and 21 assists. That’s a lot of production to make up for. On both ends of the ice, Minny is really struggling. They rank towards the bottom of the league in goals scored and goals allowed. There is not much going right for the organization.
Outside of Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek (27 points) and Mats Zuccarrello (30 points) are two others who have proven to be reliable for the Wild. Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi can score the puck from time to time, too. The Minnesota offense was completely shut down across the last two contests by Dallas though, scoring a mere two goals. They were completely outplayed and the difference in talent level showed.
Having conceded 11 goals in those two games combined, Minny will certainly be seeking to keep Philadelphia at bay on Friday. And even though the Wild own a 1-6 record in their previous six matchups, Minnesota does tend to play better against the Flyers. Perhaps returning home for a three-game homestand will help their mindset as well.
While it’s easy enough to pick a moneyline here, my best bet is the under goals considering how inconsistent the Flyers and Wild are in front of goal. It’s a worthy bet.
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