The Minnesota Wild need to make some serious adjustments if they’re going to get back into their best-of-seven series against the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs have outscored the Wild, 14-8, in the first two games of the second round, and they’re a slight -125 favorite on the road Saturday night.
Coming into the series, Minnesota’s most viable path to an upset was to try to drag Colorado onto the mat and turn it into a wrestling match.
The Wild have speed and skill, and, against other opponents, can win high-event games, but the Avs are a different beast. They are built for track meets and they’ve proven it through the first 120 minutes of this series.
It goes without saying that the Wild need more saves from Jesper Wallstedt and/or Filip Gustavsson, but they also need to adjust in front of their netminders.
If Minnesota is going to get a foothold in this contest, it will need to shut things down immediately.
The Avs are built to go up and down the ice, and one way to get games on that script is to find the back of the net early. Eight of the 22 goals scored in this series have been scored in the first period, and the Avs have accounted for five of those tallies.
With their backs against the wall, Minnesota has no choice but to commit to slowing this game down from the jump and resist the temptation to go up and down the ice with the Avs.
I expect this first period to look quite different from the first two, as the Wild focus on their structure and keeping things tidy.
Take the high price on these two teams to head into the first intermission scoreless.
The Play: 1P Under 0.5 goals (+425, DraftKings)
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
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