Wild vs. Kings: A series rubber matchup in St. Paul
By Tim Johnson
Sunday, April 10. 43-21-6. 4 p.m. . 38-25-10. Bally Sports North . 98. Wild -1.5. 67
The Minnesota Wild return to St. Paul on Sunday afternoon for the third and final meeting of the regular season with the Los Angeles Kings.
The teams split the previous games this season, with both matchups being decided by a goal.
Speaking of goals, Kirill Kaprizov — who already has the Wild mark for points in a season — is just one score from tying the franchise mark for 42 goals in a season, set by Marian Gaborik in the 2007-08 season and tied by Eric Staal a decade later.
Minnesota, which finished a four-game road trip with a 2-1-1 mark, enters Sunday in third place in the Central Division. St. Louis, which beat Minnesota in overtime on Thursday, is two points ahead of the Wild after a 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.
The Wild have two games in hand with the Blues and the teams meet in St. Louis on April 16 in what should be a critical matchup in terms of postseason seeding.
"To believe sometimes when you lose, everybody's...so devastated but we're not"
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) April 9, 2022
Coach Evason on tonight’s game in St. Louis. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/nbhFnycIiQ
Los Angeles is also in position to make the Western Conference playoff field as well. The Kings currently are in third place in the Pacific Division but just four points ahead of Vegas.
The Wild enter Sunday afternoon with a 7-0-1 over the past eight games at the Xcel Energy Center, and 24-6-2 overall this season. Minnesota, which is tied for fifth in the league in home wins, could get a boost against the Kings. Rookie forward Matt Boldy, who has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, is expected to return to the lineup.
Defenseman Matt Dumba and Jon Merrill are both expected to be out with upper-body injuries. Merrill has missed the past four games while Dumba sat out the loss to the Blues after being injured in Nashville.
He’s supposed to return. Merrill and Dumba supposed to be out https://t.co/BDiBM3vZt3
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) April 10, 2022
Betting odds
WynnBET has Minnesota favored by 1.5 goals in the Wild’s return to St. Paul after a four-game road trip. Minnesota also is favored on the moneyline at -175 Los Angeles is the underdog at +155 and the over/under for the matchup is listed at 5.5 goals.
Upcoming Wild schedule
Tuesday, April 12: Edmonton, 7 p.m. CST
Thursday, April 14: @Dallas, 7 p.m. CST
Saturday, April 16: @St. Louis, 2 p.m. CST