Seattle Kraken vs. Minnesota Wild Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/22/2022

Time: 8 p.m. ET

Venue: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

Where to watch: BSWIX, BSNX, ROOT-NW, NHLN

DraftKings: Check back later

BetMGM: Check back later

Caesars: Check back later

Kraken: 26-44-6

Wild: 49-21-7

It is time to begin the parade for the Seattle Kraken. The first three-game winning streak in team history has been reached, and all it took was a win over the Colorado Avalanche to 1) scare Avs fans for a little bit, and 2) late into their first season to make it enjoyable for the Seattle folk.

But all good vibes come to an end at some point during an 82-game season and while we need to commend the Kraken for such valiant efforts over the last few weeks, they’re hitting the road to take on a Minnesota Wild team that is not just far and away better in talent, but fighting for a playoff position with home-ice advantage on the line.

Then again, we can’t use the talent card as it pertains to the Kraken because they can go out and defeat the Avalanche 3-2 on Wednesday night and give the new fans something excited to look forward to.

Matty Benier is also torching opposing defenses with four points in four games after recording an assist. Philipp Grubauer, facing the team he was a Vezina Trophy finalist with last season, made 25 saves and stuck it to his former team.

"Guys are working hard, especially in this building, in front of the fans that have been here through thick and thin for the last six, seven months," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "Because they're working hard, they're working together all night tonight. We got off to the start that we needed. To be able to play with the lead is really important against Colorado, and we were able to do that."

With the final few games to go, it’s primarily about whio the Kraken can build around for the future. They’ve already committed to Grubauer in net and have also gone forth with the likes of Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann at forward. Trading Mark Giordano, albeit an old face, left a gap in defense.

And of course, there’s Beniers, their first ever draft pick already paying dividends. If Seattle winds up with a chance at the top pick with (maybe) Shane Wright or Logan Cooley in the top three, I think they’ll be satisfied. There’s plenty of draft capital to go around.

There’s hope that one day Seattle can turn into the Minnesota of the Pacific, with a stingy team for the most part, but one young guy who has the potential to turn the franchise on its head. It’s like a jolt that revitalizes the fanbase when the likes of Kirill Kaprizov near 100 points.

Minnesota is coming off a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens for a 26-save shutout by Cam Talbot, who is 11-0-3 in the past 14 starts while leading the way. Him and Marc-Andre Fleury have turned into quite the tandem in Minnesota.

"It's always good to go out there and just help the team win, that's all I'm looking to do," Talbot said. "I mean, shutouts are always an added bonus, but the win is what really matters, especially this time of year with the standings the way they are and playing for home ice."

I wouldn’t overthink this. The Wild are a dangerous team and I wouldn’t put it past Minnesota to cruise to victory no matter who is in goal for that one, they need to win to keep pace with the St. Louis Blues. And I think they’ll do it. Wild win 4-3

Kraken are 6-8 off a home win this season.

Kraken are 7-18 off a win this season.

Wild are 23-7 when playing the second game in five days this season.

Kraken:

Ryan Donato -- Matty Beniers -- Jordan Eberle

Joonas Donskoi -- Riley Sheahan -- Daniel Sprong

Jared McCann -- Yanni Gourde -- Karson Kuhlman

Victor Rask -- Alex Wennberg -- Kole Lind

Adam Larsson -- Vince Dunn

Cale Fleury -- Carson Soucy

Jamie Oleksiak - Will Borgen

Chris Driedger

Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Mats Zuccarello

Kevin Fiala -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy

Nicolas Deslauriers -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Nick Bjugstad

Brandon Duhaime -- Connor Dewar -- Mitchell Chaffee

Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Dmitry Kulikov

Jon Merrill -- Alex Goligoski

Marc-Andre Fleury

Points: Jared McCann -- 45

Goals: Jared McCann -- 26

Assists: Vince Dunn -- 27

Goalie: Philipp Grubauer -- 18-29-5, 3.09 GAA, .891 SV%

Points: Kirill Kaprizov -- 97

Goals: Kirill Kaprizov -- 44

Assists: Mats Zuccarello -- 55

Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury -- 25-22-5, 2.90 GAA, .910 SV%