Minnesota Wild vs Washington Capitals Prediction, Preview and Odds - 04/03/2022

Game Time: 7:00 pm ET, Sunday, April 3, 2022

Venue:  Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

Where to Watch:  NBCS-DC

DraftKings:  Moneyline:  Wild +115, Capitals -135; Over/Under:  6 goals

Bet365:  Moneyline:  Wild +105, Capitals -130; Over/Under:  6 goals

BetMGM:  Moneyline:  Wild +105, Capitals -130; Over/Under:  6 goals

 

Minnesota Wild:  41-20-5 (2nd place, Central Division)

Washington Capitals:  37-21-10 (4th place, Metropolitan Division)

 

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Minnesota Wild:  7-1-2 last 10

Washington Capitals:  6-3-1 last 10

 

 

 

The Wild are coming into this game with 87 points, a 41-20-5 record overall, and they are 17-13-3 in their road games this season where they will be in this game. They have won 7 of their last 8 games but are coming into this one off of a loss in their last game which snapped a 7 game winning streak that they were on. Their 7 wins in that span were against the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Vancouver Canucks, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Philadelphia Flyers while their loss came against the Pittsburgh Penguins in their last game. They lost that game at home 4-3 in overtime. They still have a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night that needs to be played first so this will be the 2nd leg of a back-to-back for them on Sunday night. In their game against the Penguins, Matt Dumba, Frédérick Gaudreau, and Kirill Kaprizov all scored 1 goal in that game. Kaprizov led the team in shots on goal in that one with 5. Cam Talbot was the starting goaltender in that game and he allowed 4 goals on 39 shots with 35 saves and a .897 save percentage. Their offense has scored 244 goals this season averaging 3.7 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 207 goals against them allowing 3.1 goals per game. 

 

 

The Capitals are coming into this game with 84 points, a 37-21-10 record overall, and they are 16-14-5 in their home games this regular season where they will be in this game. They have won 2 of their last 3 games but are coming into this one off of a loss in their last game which snapped a 2 game winning streak that they were on. Their 2 wins in that span were against the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils while their loss came against the Carolina Hurricanes in their last game. They lost that game at home 6-1. Tom Wilson scored the only goal for them in that game and it was unassisted. Alexander Ovechkin led the team in shots on net in that game with 7. Vitek Vanecek was the starting goalie in that game and he allowed 5 goals on 23 shots with 18 saves and a .783 sv percentage. He was pulled in that game and replaced by Ilya Samsonov who allowed 1 goal on 6 shots with 5 saves and a .833 save percentage. Their offense has scored 225 goals this season averaging 3.3 goals per game and their defense has allowed their opponents to score 197 goals against them allowing 2.9 goals per game. 

 

 

The Wild have been playing very well recently and they are coming into this game off of a loss in their last game which snapped a 7 game winning streak for them. They lost at home in overtime but they lost a lot of steam in that game and they will have to play this game on a back-to-back after a game against the Hurricanes on Saturday. The Wild have a very condensed schedule here and they are currently in a good spot sitting in 2nd place in their division. This could be a let down game for them and they are going up against a Capitals team that is very rested having last played on Monday. They have had almost a full week to rest and prepare for this game and they have the advantage here with the game being at home for them. They are catching the Wild in a bad spot here and the Capitals will likely come away with the win here.

 

Wild Capitals Prediction:  Our NHL Pick for Sunday, April 3, 2022 (7:00 pm ET start time) is Capitals 3 Wild 1.

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Minnesota Wild: 115-87 (+14.7u) on the moneyline in all games. 76-51 (+16u) on the moneyline second half of the season. 38-26 OVER in all games.

Washington Capitals: 38-35 (-20u) on the moneyline in a home game where the total is 6 or more. 119-81 OVER in all games. 46-25 OVER in a home game where the total is 6 or more.

 

 

Minnesota Wild:  M. Boldy (LW) Ques Sat - Upper Body injury. J. Merrill (D) Out indefinitely - Upper Body injury. A. Goligoski (D) Ques Sat - Undisclosed injury.

Washington Capitals:  J. Larsson (LW) Mid April - Hernia. N. Dowd (C) Out indefinitely - Shoulder injury. C. Hagelin (LW) Out indefinitely - Face injury. T. van Riemsdyk (D) Out indefinitely - Upper Body injury. J. Snively (LW) Out indefinitely - Wrist injury.

 

 

 

“We really liked our resilience and our push back. It would have been easy to fold at 3-1 for sure. And guys just kept doing the right things. Didn’t lose their composure like us coaches, probably. And, you know, we were able to get a point.” - Dean Evason on his team’s loss against the Penguins on Thursday night.

 

 

“Tonight didn’t go our way. It’s hard to paint the month with a brush tonight and say it wasn’t good, or it wasn’t consistent. There was a lot of good things that we did. Certainly, you leave tonight and everybody’s got a bad taste in their mouth.” - Peter Laviolette on his team’s loss against the Hurricanes on Monday night.

 

 

 

LW Kaprizov, Kirill 

C Hartman, Ryan

RW Zuccarello, Mats

LD Brodin, Jonas

RD Dumba, Matt

G Talbot, Cam

 

LW Ovechkin, Alex

C Evgeny Kuznetsov

RW Wilson, Tom

LD Fehérváry, Martin

RD Carlson, John

G Vanecek, Vitek

 

 

Points: K. Kaprizov (83)

Goals: K. Kaprizov (38)

Assists: M. Zuccarello (48)

GAA: C. Talbot (2.83)

 

Points: A. Ovechkin (78)

Goals: A. Ovechkin (42)

Assists: J. Carlson (44)

GAA:  V. Vanecek (2.56)

 

Coaches:

Minnesota Wild: Dean Evason (3rd season)

Washington Capitals: Peter Laviolette (2nd season)