Minnesota Wild @ Los Angeles Kings - December 7, 2024

As the Minnesota Wild prepare to face off against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena, both teams come into this matchup riding impressive winning streaks. The Kings have won four straight games, while the Wild are on a five-game winning run. This sets the stage for what promises to be an exciting contest.

Oddsmakers opened with the Kings as slight favorites at -127 on the moneyline, reflecting their recent form and home-ice advantage. However, let’s dive deeper into the statistics to uncover potential trends that could influence this game.

The Wild boast a solid offensive output, averaging 3.2 goals per game on 28.8 shots with a shooting percentage of approximately 11.7%. Their power play is also performing well at 20%, scoring about 0.52 goals per game when given opportunities. Conversely, the Kings average slightly fewer goals at 3.0 per game but generate more shots (27.8) with a shooting percentage of around 11.4%. Their power play has struggled somewhat this season with only a 16% conversion rate.

Defensively, both teams have shown strong capabilities in goalkeeping and penalty killing, though Minnesota edges out LA in save percentage (92% vs. 89%). The Kings have had some success on the penalty kill (79%), but they will need to tighten up further against Minnesota’s more potent power play if they want to keep them from capitalizing on opportunities.

In terms of trends leading up to this game, it’s worth noting that Minnesota has gone UNDER in five of their last six games despite their recent offensive success—suggesting that while they can score, they’ve also been effective defensively during this stretch. On the other hand, Los Angeles has seen six of its last eight games go UNDER as well; thus we might expect a lower-scoring affair tonight.

Given these stats and trends, I predict that Los Angeles will emerge victorious in this matchup due to their home advantage and current momentum; however, I believe Minnesota will cover the spread due to their resilience and ability to keep games close even when facing tough opponents.

With both teams trending towards low-scoring outcomes recently and showing defensive strengths—particularly in net—the expectation is for another UNDER result tonight as well.

To summarize my predictions: Los Angeles wins but Minnesota covers the spread; look for an outcome under the total set at 5.5 goals based on recent performances by both squads!