Canucks vs Wild: Prediction, Team News and Canadian Odds

Result: Minnesota Wild 4-2 Vancouver Canucks

Minnesota had 34 shots to Vancouver’s 17. Maxim Shabanov opened on the power play and Bobby Brink made it two. Quinn Hughes and Kirill Kaprizov finished it, Hughes with a goal and an assist. Max Sasson and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver in the third. Calvin Pickard needed 15 saves and got the win. Meriläinen stopped 30 of 34 and lost. Vancouver has lost six in a row.

Minnesota 4-2, exactly as called. We named that scoreline and wanted the under from 6.5 up. Six goals, so both halves landed. The case was Vancouver last in the league at minus twenty-one, with fifteen goals conceded in three games. The one doubt we raised was which goaltender dressed for Vancouver. Meriläinen did, held the better numbers of the two, and still faced 34 shots. The shot count is the story and the scoreline flatters the home side.

The preview as published before the game follows.

Vancouver is last in the NHL and has lost five in a row. Minnesota is ninth and has lost three of four. What follows is the call, the team news and the Canadian odds.

How to watch

Check your provider before puck drop: coverage varies by region and some parts of Canada are blacked out. We keep the full breakdown on our how to watch the NHL in Canada page.

Canucks vs Wild odds

There was no price up yet when we wrote this. Canadian books post NHL markets close to the game, so the NHL odds page will have it before puck drop.

Vancouver is thirty-second and the goaltending has split in two

The Canucks are 2-9-1 with a goal difference of minus twenty-one, the worst in the league, and 1-8-1 across their last ten. They have lost five straight.

Thatcher Demko is out until around 21 December after hip surgery, and the two behind him are not the same goaltender. Kevin Lankinen is 1-7-0 with a .812. Leevi Meriläinen has a .917 and faced 43 shots against Carolina.

That gap is the single most useful number on this page. Vancouver has conceded six, five and four in its last three, and Mackenzie MacEachern and Jack Thompson are both on injured reserve.

How they compare

Minnesota finished forty-six points clear of Vancouver last season and conceded almost a goal a game less. The Canucks had the better power play of the two, and their penalty kill was the worst in the league at 71.5 per cent.

Minnesota is ninth with a first-pair defenceman and its number one goalie out

The Wild are 6-3-2 and lost 2-1 in Calgary on Thursday. They have taken one win from four, including a 4-3 overtime defeat in Edmonton.

Jesper Wallstedt has started ten of eleven at a .915, because Filip Gustavsson is out until around 19 November with a hip problem. At 22 the job is his outright and he has held it.

Brock Faber is on injured reserve until early November with a skull fracture, and both Foligno brothers are out until the end of the month. Minnesota is scoring less than three a game and winning on the back of its crease.

Minnesota has won three of the last five

Minnesota leads the all-time series 65 wins to 61 and has won three of the last five, including both meetings at Rogers Arena.

Those five produced 7, 6, 7, 5 and 4 goals, an average of 5.8. Two of the five cleared a line of 6.5 and three did not.

Team news

Who starts in goal is an open question. Minnesota Wild has split between Wallstedt (10 starts, .915) and Pickard (1, .800), and Vancouver Canucks has split between Lankinen (7 starts, .812) and Meriläinen (5, .917). Neither number is a promise about tonight, and the line moves the moment a club confirms its starter.

The full league picture is on our NHL injury report.

Players to watch

Leevi Meriläinen, Vancouver. A .917 behind the worst defensive record in the NHL. If he starts, this is a different game.

Jesper Wallstedt, Minnesota. Ten starts, a .915, and the reason the Wild are ninth on fewer than three goals a game.

Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota. Eleven goals already and the only consistent scoring on either side.

Score prediction

Minnesota Wild 4-2 Vancouver Canucks. Minnesota has by far the better goaltending and Vancouver has lost five in a row.

Canucks vs Wild prediction

Minnesota is the side we would take. Vancouver is last in the league, minus twenty-one, and has conceded fifteen goals in three games.

The one case for Vancouver is which goaltender dresses. Meriläinen’s .917 against Lankinen’s .812 is a hundred points of save percentage, and the Canucks are at home. Our lean: Minnesota, and the under if the total sits at 6.5 or higher. Three of the last five meetings finished at five or fewer and Minnesota is not scoring freely either.

We rank all 32 each week in the NHL power rankings; the NHL schedule has the rest of Sunday’s games.

19+ (18+ in AB, MB and QC). Picks are opinion, not advice, and odds change constantly. Availability varies by province. Please play responsibly. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600 for Ontario residents; see your province’s helpline for resources elsewhere.