Swinger’s weekly Wednesday night NHL selection has been clicking all season long and tonight he scopes out the Boston Bruins traveling to meet the Minnesota Wild. Let’s check out this matchup and see if another of his bookie-busting NHL picks will continue.
Boston Bruins vs. Minnesota Wild
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 – 07:30 PM EDT at Xcel Energy Center
The Bruins were clicking on all cylinders last night and had it not been for the stonewall buried between the pipes for the Blackhawks, the game would have been a blowout. However, the sublime Marc-Andre Fleury was patrolling the crease for Chicago and held Boston at bay until Patrice Bergeron connected four minutes into the final period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
However, the Hawks would return the favor five minutes later to even the score and force an overtime frame. Matt Grzelcyk would settle things for good when he tallied for his third goal of the season and gave Boston a 2-1 overtime victory. Marc-Andre Fleury ended the night by turning aside 46 of Boston’s 48 shots while Chicago mustered only 20 against Bruins’ goalie Linus Ullmark.
Minnesota Freefall
The Wild have been plummeting in the standings lately due to losing three of their last 13 games, including their latest pair by scores of 3-2 (SO) and 6-2 to Columbus and Nashville, respectively.
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The loss to Nashville proved particularly vexing because it allowed their Central Division foe to tie Minnesota for the third spot in the divisional race. The lopsided nature of the defeat came hot off the heels of a shootout loss to the Blue Jackets in which Columbus tied the game with only 32 seconds left and went on to victory when Yegor Chinakhov sealed the deal by beating Kaapo Kahkonen in the shootout frame.
In the Wild’s last contest, Sunday night in which the NHL odds at the best sportsbooks revealed them as substantial home chalk against the visiting Predators, Minnesota melted like butter in a blast furnace in the final stanza. After Matt Boldy knotted the score at one apiece in the opening period, Jordan Greenway followed in the second to tie it again with his fifth tally of the season.
However, the Predators would go on to score four unanswered goals with another in the second and three in the third. Kahkonen, now 0-5-1 in his last six starts, was not nearly as sharp in this game as he was in the previous contest against Columbus and allowed four goals on 23 shots with the final two being empty-netters.
Wanna Make a Bet?
It is rare indeed that I advise a wager on a team playing its second leg of back-to-back games, but every now and again you’ve got to break the rules and tonight is just such a night. The Bruins completely outplayed Chicago last night and despite outshooting Chicago by more than a 2:1 margin, they won by only a goal and it took an overtime session to do it.
Tonight, the B’s will have their starting netminder, Jeremy Swayman, tending the twine who has been nothing short of stellar since taking over the starting role once Tuukka Rask decided to call it quits in a very brief return to action. Swayman is currently No. 1 among all qualifying goaltenders with a 2.06 goals-against average and boasts a .926 save percentage while winning his last eight starts.
And although this game, like any hockey game, doesn’t boil down solely to goaltending matchups, the Bruins have a decided advantage in this regard over the Minnesota tandem of Cam Talbot (3.00 GAA) and Kaapo Kahkonen (2.87 GAA).
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We should also note that while Minnesota possesses its share of sharpshooters, they are only ranked 21st in shots on net versus 3rd for Boston in that category. If Swayman is in the net tonight like we believe he will be, the Wild will need to launch early and often to beat him. The problem is the Bruins don’t allow teams to get off at will and when they do, Swayman has been there to shut the door.
Below are a few trends to bolster the case for Boston:
- Bruins are 7-1 in their last 8 in the third game of a 3-in-4 situation.
- Bruins are 7-1 in their last 8 road games.
- Bruins are 6-1 in their last 7 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game.
NHL Pick: Boston Bruins (+111) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
