The Minnesota Wild will host the Detroit Red Wings at Xcel Energy Centre, Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday, 14th December 2022.
In the past five years, the two teams have played 11 times, out of which the Minnesota Wild have won 7 times, and the Detroit Red Wings have won 3 times while one game has ended in a draw. The two teams played their last match on 30th October, where the Detroit Red Wings won by 2:1.
Let’s look at the performance of the two teams in the season so far to have an idea of what to expect from the upcoming game.
Detroit Red Wings Statistics
The Detroit Red Wings have won 13 games out of the total 27 games played in the season. The team will come into Wednesday’s game after it clashes with the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, for which it is favoured to win.
The team will be returning home after a four-match road trip. The team won the first two matches against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets but lost the next two to the Dallas Stars and the Florida Panthers.
The Red Wings are currently in 4th place in the Atlantic Division and 9th in the Eastern Conference. The team has scored an average of 3.19 goals in the season, with a shooting percentage of 10.41% and a shooting average of 29.9. The team’s scoring average puts it in 16th place in the league.
The lead scorer for the team is Dylan Larkin, who broke a three-game pointless streak when he scored his 10th goal in the last game. The team captain may have two points to his credit for the month but leads the team score table with 27 points.
On the defence end, the team is conceding an average of 3.05 goals per game, which is the 15th highest in the league. The overall save percentage for the team is 0.901.
Minnesota Wild Statistics
The Minnesota Wild is in 4th rank in the Central Division and 8th place in the Western Conference. Minnesota has played 28 games in the season and won 15 games in total. The team won the last two matches against the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. The Monday match against the Oilers ended in 2:1 for the team, even though the Oilers were favoured to win.
It has been a pretty great season for the Wild, as the team offence is stepping up with an average of 3.1 goals. The lead scorer for the team is Kirill Kaprizov, with 34 points, 17 goals, and 17 assists. Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy have scored 10 goals each, with the rest of the offence also playing well.
However, while the offence has been doing well, like the Red Wings, the defence is struggling with an average of 3.07 goals conceded per game. Jacob Middleton and Jared Spurgeon have 3.6 defensive points combined; however, the rest of the defence is lagging. The defense will have to step up if the team wants to win it against the Red Wings. The overall saving percentage for the team is 0.905, only slightly better than Detroit.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Minnesota Wild Prediction
If we consider the two teams’ recent stats, it would be fair to say that the Minnesota Wild are in a slightly better position to win the game with the Red Wings. The team may have lost its last match against Detroit, but overall, they seem to be faring better than the opponents and have a better recent performance score and a better win record for the last 5 years’ head-to-head encounters.
The Red Wings have lost back-to-back matches and currently struggling. It remains to be seen how they perform against the Hurricanes. Since there is not a wide difference between the current performance stats of the two teams, there is also a chance that Detroit may take this one.