With Wild Eliminated, there’s no excuses for Vegas
Wild vs Knights Preview

The Minnesota Wild (37-31-10, 84 points) head to T-Mobile Arena to play out the string on the 2023-24 season, starting with the Vegas Golden Knights (42-28-8, 94 points). With Vegas playing three hockey teams that aren’t going to the postseason, along with the Colorado Avalanche, there’s no reason for this team to fail to make the postseason.
Oddsmakers have opened Vegas as a -161 home favorite with a total of 6 (under -121). The puck is scheduled to drop at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT and can be seen on SCRIPPS and Bally Sports North. Let’s get right to our Wild vs Knights preview.
Wild vs Knights 
Day/Time:
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Streaming: SCRIPPS/Bally Sports North
Will The Wild ‘Run It Back’ Again?
The NHL league standings show us that the Minnesota Wild are officially out of the postseason, but now perhaps become more dangerous because players are starting their 2024-25 auditions tonight.
We don’t know what the team will look like next season, but sometimes playing without pressure or fearing missing the postseason brings out the best. It ends a four-year run of Minnesota making the postseason while extending its 10-year run of failing to win a playoff series.
We know that the Wild management would instead build off what they have, but there needs to be some new blood.
To do that, Bill Guerin will have to be creative and maneuverable with very little money under the cap. We know that Marc Andre Fleury (17-13-5, 2.87, .899), an unrestricted free agent and $3.5 million, will not be back.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski (2 million per) is the only other UFA that would free up significant cash. If there is any synergy in the world, John Hynes should start the veteran against the Knights to get his ‘flowers’ from a market that still has an unhealable scare from his departure. See what we did there?
For bettors, this will be the second straight season the Wild failed to be a profitable wager, with 9.40 units into the red and -14.24 units over the last two seasons.
It appears that this will be the Wild’s worst hockey season against the moneyline since 2015-16, when they dropped 12.40 units. Minnesota was -14.35 units as an underdog behind a record of 12-3o this season.
Put Up Or Shut Up For The Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are crawling to the finish line after dropping a 5-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. The Knights are holding on to the last wild card spot but could catch the Los Angeles Kings (93 points) for third in the Pacific.
With four games left, Vegas will play three non-playoff teams (Minnesota, Anaheim, Chicago). The Kings have an easier road with all of their remaining NHL games against the league’s bottom feeders (Minnesota, Calgary, Anaheim, Chicago).
The difference in that one spot, assuming VGK makes the postseason, is a series against the Dallas Stars (109 points) or one against the Edmonton Oilers (101 points).
Neither seems like a warm welcome, but we think the Knights are better off starting with the Dallas Stars (ranked fifth in our power rankings) than the Oilers, who are third in our latest power ranking.
Getting beat thoroughly by Edmonton without Connor McDavid ends quite the message from a team that would love nothing more than to avenge last season’s early exit courtesy of the Golden Knights. The NHL injury report exposes why Vegas has struggled after a 20-5-5 start.
The Knights have five key players from last year’s Stanley Cup team not on the ice. Nic Roy (38 points), Alex Pietrangelo (33 points), and Chandler Stephenson (47 points) are listed as questionable for this game, while Mark Stone (53 points) will not be back until later this month. William Carrier (8 points) is out indefinitely.
Adding up NHL player stats, that’s 179 total points that could be out of the lineup, is enough to cripple any team. The Knights are -4.45 (units) for bettors this season and -6.29 units as a favorite. The Knights are at their best at home, profiting 3.22 units this season.
Vegas Rolls In Front Of Home Crowd
We didn’t believe in the Knights against the Oilers, now all we can picture is President George McPhee and General Manager Kelly McCrimmon reaching for that switch that everyone believes is at the fingertips of the Vegas power brokers. They better flip it quickly because the natives are getting restless.
The rest of the hockey world thinks that Vegas fans believe that their postseason invites are already printed to start the year, but the truth is this team is struggling, but a 3-1 ending would put them in a better spot mentally.
This number (-161) may be a little rich, but the Knights are 12-6 when a -160 to -170 home favorite in their seven-year history (1-0 in 23-24). It also should be noted that with the the Wild out of the postseason and a day off between games, Minnesota may have had more than their share of fun to take some of the edge off.
Vegas is just 4-4 against Minnesota at ‘The Fortress’ and 11-13 overall, but VGK is the play here. That does it for our Wild vs Knights preview, all the best to your NHL picks and parlays tonight.
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