Marco Rossi has established himself as a legitimate No. 1 center with the Wild this year, and he should find the scoresheet once more vs. a road-weary Panthers team tonight.
NHL
The Minnesota Wild host the Florida Panthers Wednesday night in a battle between two of the Top 10 teams in the NHL.
My Panthers vs. Wild predictions expect Minnesota’s dangerous top line to make some noise against a struggling goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky.
Let’s break things down further with my NHL picks for December 18, featuring Marco Rossi.
My best bet
Marco Rossi Over 0.5 points (-104 at FanDuel)
My analysis
Marco Rossi is enjoying a huge breakout season for the prolific Minnesota Wild. He has split the season between the top two lines and enjoyed great success on both.
Rossi has effectively driven his own line while also stepping up as a legitimate No. 1 center when Joel Eriksson Ek has been out of the lineup due to injury.
Eriksson Ek is expected to be sidelined a little longer, which means Rossi will continue to serve as the top center. He’ll spearhead a line featuring Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, about as good a pair of linemates as you could ask for.
Kaprizov is a legitimate Hart Trophy odds favorite while Zuccarello is flirting with a point per game, having piled up 17 through 18 appearances this season.
As you’d expect, Rossi’s production has really spiked when playing with those wingers. Rossi is averaging 2.73 points per 60 minutes of 5v5 play alongside Kaprizov. That number jumps above 3.0 when also playing with Zuccarello, albeit over a smaller sample.
Either way, those are elite first-line rates from Rossi at 5v5. Not to mention, he also factors in on the top power play unit in the absence of Eriksson Ek.
The Florida Panthers are a great team but their goaltending has not been up to par. Sergei Bobrovsky is the primary culprit, sporting a .889 save percentage on the season and allowing at least four goals in five of his past 10 starts.
The Wild haven’t traveled in more than a week while the Panthers are capping off a harsh five-game west coast road trip. I’m expecting the home side to net a few here and Rossi to get in on the fun.
Marco Rossi Over 0.5 points
Kirill Kaprizov Over 0.5 points
Kirill Kaprizov 2.5 shots on goal
The Kaprizov-Rossi-Zuccarello line has been one of the most productive in the NHL. They’ve proven almost unstoppable, helping the Wild score more than 4.5 goals per 60 minutes of 5v5 play.
Kaprizov is averaging more than 1.5 points per game and is the straw that stirs the drink for the Wild offense. Given he shares the ice with Rossi at 5v5 and on the power play, Kaprizov has a strong chance at hitting the scoresheet if Rossi does.
Kaprizov has generated at least three shots in eight consecutive games and 16 of the past 18 overall. The Wild won’t be able to take their foot off the gas against a team like the Panthers even if playing from ahead.
Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.
Kaprizov has 14 points spanning a six-game point streak against Florida. Find more NHL betting trends for Panthers vs. Wild.
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Todd Cordell is a data-driven betting analyst. He uses numbers to help identify value across a wide variety of sports, with NHL being his specialty. Shot props, in particular, have proven to be a very fruitful market. Todd has served as a betting analyst in the public sphere for many years, most recently with theScore covering the NHL and MLB.
When not writing about sports betting, Todd stays busy analyzing the New Jersey Devils with a fine-tooth comb for InfernalAccess, his Devils-centric blog. Todd attended Sheridan College and graduated in 2014 with a diploma in print journalism.
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