Does Stützle lead the Sens back to success?

66 goals – that’s how big the difference currently is between the Ottawa Senators and the Minnesota Wild if we take the two goal ratios. And since 50 games have not yet been played in the season, that is quite a lot.

This already shows the balance of power in this matchup, in which Minnesota is the clear favourite. After all, they are also ranked 2nd in the Central Division, whereas the Senators are only 6th in the Atlantic Division.

However, this is not unusual, the Canadians are also in transition and in their second year of rebuilding. But they can already keep up very well in many games and also create surprises time and again, led by German top forward Tim Stützle.

However, it is questionable whether they will be able to pull off such a surprise against the Wild, as Minnesota recently knocked the Oilers out of the arena with a 7:3 victory. So our prediction for Ottawa vs. Minnesota is another Wild win, which could also be by more than just a one-goal difference.

Ottawa Senators – Statistics & current form

The Senators have won only 18 of their 49 games this season and yet they are not playing a bad season. Why is that? For one thing, their 41 points to date are only ten less than they scored in the entire preseason – and for another, they’re still in the midst of a rebuild.

It’s about developing all the young players around Tim Stützle (20), Josh Norris (22), Drake Batherson (23) or Brady Tkachuk (22) and then having a strong team at the start in the next few years. They are not that far away from that anymore.

Sens always with exclamation marks

Sens have been able to attract attention with strong wins every now and then this season. The Caps were swept off the ice 4:1 in their rink, the Oilers were defeated twice and they also won 4:1 against the Flames, who are currently so strong.

Tim Stützle, who scored again on Sunday, already has 11 goals and 15 assists, making him the Canadians’ third-leading scorer after Tkachuk and Batherson. What’s amazing is that all four top scorers are only 23 years old or younger. That gives Sens fans hope.

Ottawa with weak powerplay quota

The reason they aren’t even better is because of their yet vulnerable defence and weak power play. While they concede 3.16 goals per game, their powerplay ratio is a meagre 16.3%. That is a disparity that is not exactly positive.

With Minnesota, the third-best offence in the league, coming to Canada, it is unlikely that the Sens will concede less than three goals on Tuesday. Therefore, a bet on Minnesota is our clear recommendation for Senators vs. Wild – for value reasons even combined with over-points.

Key Players:
G: Filip Gustavsson
D: Erik Brannstrom
D: Artem Zub
LW: Brady Tkachuk
C: Nick Paul
RW: Connor Brown

Minnesota Wild – Statistics & current form

There was the Minnesota Wild getting outplayed 6-2 at home by the Panthers on Friday, only to bounce back with a 7-3 win in Edmonton on Sunday. That shows Minnesota’s strength this season – especially offensively.

In their last four games they have scored 19 goals, an average of 4.75 per game. However, the fact that they still lost two of those four games doesn’t shed the best light on Minnesota’s defence, which has been erratic of late.

Defence not yet Championship ready

When you see yourself as a Stanley Cup contender like the Wild, you simply have to be better defensively. With 2.98 goals conceded per game, they rank only 20th. The Flames, who also play in the Western Conference, for example, only concede 2.35 goals per game.

To some extent, this is also due to the inconsistent performance of their designated No.1 goalie Cam Talbot. With a save percentage of 91.1% and a goals against average of 2.91, he ranks only 39th among all goalies.

Talbot is also well behind backup Kapo Kahkonen. He has a 92.1% save percentage and only 2.56 goals against per game. For this reason, the Finn is getting the spot between the posts more and more regularly, as he did on Sunday in Edmonton.

Against the Senators with clear advantages

On Tuesday in Ottawa, however, we now expect Talbot to get another chance. With No.1 Matt Murray currently injured, the Wild should have the advantage at that position.

As well as in goals scored (3.81 to 2.63) and goals conceded (2.98 to 3.16). This results in a total difference of 1.36 goals, which already corresponds to a clear favourite status. For Senators vs Wild, the odds on Minnesota are thus clear favourites.

Key Players:
G: Cam Talbot
D: Jonas Brodin
D: Jared Spurgeon
LW: Kirill Kaprizov
C: Ryan Hartman
RW: Mats Zuccarello

Ottawa Senators – Minnesota Wild Direct Comparison / H2H-Balance

For those who need further proof of the Wild’s heavy favourite status, look no further than the head-to-head comparison. All nine of the last meetings went to Minnesota – with a total goal difference of 41:20.

Ottawa’s last win was more than six years ago. In those nine Wild victories, the 5.5 goal mark has also been surpassed six times, which is why we can confidently include this number in our betting combo to get a much better value.

Ottawa Senators – Minnesota Wild Tip

The Wild are superior to the Senators in pretty much all respects. Only in penalty killing are the Canadians ahead by just 1.4%. But since this is by far not the most important point, the US Americans have to be seen clearly ahead here.

For Sens vs. Wild, a bet on Minnesota + Over 5.5 points is our favourite betting option. Alternatively, however, bets on the Wild -1.5 can also be considered, as they have won six of the last nine duels with at least a two-goal difference.

However, we also have a player bet up our sleeve as an option. Kirill Kaprizov is currently on fire and shooting what he can. Kaprizov can easily take more than 2.5 shots at good odds in this match.