With the series now a best-of-three, the Vegas Golden Knights would be wise to take advantage of home ice. As Jonny Lazarus explains, a Game 4 win should boost the confidence and have the Golden Knights firing on all cylinders in Game 5.
NHL
This series has been so much tighter than most people would have anticipated.
The Minnesota Wild have been carried by their star players, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, while the Vegas Golden Knights need better performances from top guys like Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.
That said, Vegas may have found a groove in its Game 4 victory, which is why tonight’s Wild vs. Golden Knights predictions side with the home team inside of 60 minutes.
Find out why as I break down my best NHL picks for Tuesday, April 29.
The Vegas Golden Knights looked the a shell of themselves in Games 2 and 3, but there is a certain trend in the two games that Vegas has won in this series.
In Game 1 and Game 4, the Golden Knights were able to score two goals on the man-advantage. They are 4/7 in their two victories and 0/4 in the two games they’ve lost. Special teams is the difference in this series right now.
The Golden Knights are the better and deeper team in this series right now, nobody would deny that, but the Minnesota Wild’s best players have been better than the Golden Knights’ best players thus far. That could change in Game 5.
My Wild vs Golden Knights pick: Golden Knights to win in regulation (-140 at BET99)
Jack Eichel had not been playing his best hockey through the first four games, but after getting an assist on Shea Theodore’s power play goal in Game 4, it might get him going a bit offensively. That’s the only point Eichel has in this series thus far, but he has put up 11 shots on goal through four games and is due to find the back of the net.
To this point of the series, Vegas’ special teams has outplayed Minnesota’s. The Golden Knights are clicking at a 36.4% rate on the power play right now, while the Wild’s penalty kill is at a 63.6%. On the opposite side, Minnesota’s man-advantage is at just 25%, as Vegas’ penalty kill stands at 75%.
The Wild have scored on two of their eight power play attempts, but didn’t convert in either games that were played in Vegas and have only scored in one of the four games played thus far.
Adin Hill needed to have a strong bounceback performance in Game 4, and that he did. Hill stopped 29 of the 32 shots that he faced, skating to a .906 SV% for the game. Hill hasn’t been at his best in the first round, but sometimes all you need is one good game to get you going in the right direction. I think that Game 4 victory will change the course of this series for Hill and the Golden Knights.
The Wild’s top guys continue to play well, but if they don’t get enough depth scoring, their luck will run out.
Golden Knights to win in regulation
Jack Eichel 1+ point
Tomas Hertl 1+ point
Jack Eichel is too good a player to have his offensive struggles continue for this long in a playoff series. He finally got on the board in Game 4, and I see him using that to boost his team to a big win in Game 5. Eichel had 94 points in 77 games this season and only has one point through four games; he’s due for a breakout game.
Tomas Hertl has been money for the Golden Knights thus far through the first four games. Hertl has points in three of the four games thus far and is carrying his strong play from the regular season into the playoffs. He had 32 goals this season and has three goals in the series. Minnesota doesn’t seem to have an answer for him yet.
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Vegas has won seven of the last nine meetings between these two teams. Find more NHL betting trends for Wild vs. Golden Knights.
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Jonny Lazarus has loved hockey for as long as he can remember. After his Division I playing career at UMass-Amherst and Mercyhurst University came to an end in 2020, he transitioned from being a player to working in the media. He might be young in his career, but he has made appearances in numerous places like the NHL, and Bleacher Report, and this season he will be doing color commentary for a selection of UMass-Amherst hockey games.
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