Flames vs Wild Odds and Picks – Minnesota Looks to Bounceback in Thursday NHL Odds

• The Calgary Flames visit the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, April 28th
• The Wild are coming off a 5-3 loss to the lowly Coyotes
• Read below for Flames vs Wild odds, picks and prediction

With the regular season nearing it’s end, the Flames visit the Wild on Thursday, April 28th at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota. The faceoff will be at 8pm ET in the second last game of the season for both sides.

Oddsmakers have made this game a virtual pick’em with the Wild narrow -112 home favorites in the Thursday NHL odds. Minnesota had won five in a row before a very surprising home loss to the lowly Coyotes on Tuesday.

Let’s check out the Flames vs Wild odds and give you our NHL best bet.

Flames vs Wild Odds

Odds as of April 27th at Barstool Sportsbook

Sportsbooks have very little separating these two teams with the Wild’s -112 moneyline odds giving them an implied win probability of 52.83% while the Flames -109 odds give them an implied probability of 52.15% to win this game.

Flames Slight Underdogs in Thursday NHL Odds

It hasn’t happened often recently, but the Flames go into this game against the Wild as the smallest of underdogs. The last time the Flames weren’t favored to win was March 13th, when they lost on the road, 3-0 to Colorado.

As one of the favorites in the Stanley Cup odds, it makes sense that the Flames have been the NHL betting favorite in the overwhelming majority of their games of late.

😮 #Flames win a thriller in Nashville. This is what it sounded like on Sportsnet 960.

🎙@fan960wills pic.twitter.com/SmGvAQsOsR

— Sportsnet 960 (@Sportsnet960) April 27, 2022

Johnny Gaudreau continues his torrid scoring pace leading the Flames explosive offense. At this point, Connor McDavid looks like a lock in the Art Ross trophy odds, but Gaudreau leads the league in scoring since the calendar flipped to 2022.

Johnny Gaudreau becomes the 18th player in NHL history — and first this century — to have 85+ ES points in a season:

Bossy x3
Coffey
Dionne x2
Esposito x2
Gaudreau
Goulet
Gretzky x12
Hodge
Hull
Jagr
Kurri x2
Lafleur x3
Lemieux x2
Nicholls
Shutt
Stastny x3
Trottier x3
Yzerman x2

— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) April 19, 2022

Calgary has scored four or more goals in eight of their last 10 games and have gone over the total in six of their last eight matchups. At plus-88, they have the second-best goal differential in the league.

Wild One of the League’s Best in NHL odds at Home

One of the reasons why the Wild are the first team to be favored to beat the Flames in over a month is because of their stellar record at the Xcel Energy Center. Only the Avalanche have more home wins in the Western Conference than the Wild who have 29 victories in their own barn.

World-class winger Kirill Kaprizov has 26 goals and 61 points in 38 games at home this season. The Russian winger has more than justified his $45 million contract and is a pretty good longshot bet in the Hart trophy odds.

The newest member of the 100-point club, Kirill Kaprizov! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/br0WcJJezW

— NHL (@NHL) April 23, 2022

He’s a major reason why the Wild are one of the best teams in the West and have provided great value on the moneyline all season, bringing a 13.01% return on investment when you pick them to win.

Minnesota has brought even more value when picking them to go over the NHL betting line. With an ROI of 15.29%, they have brought the second best value of any NHL team team this season when betting them to go over. They have topped the over/under total in four straight and six of their last seven.

Flames vs Wild Recent Results

Calgary has taken four straight from the Wild including both meetings this year.

Flames vs Wild Pick & Prediction

The Flames have nothing left to play for as they’ve locked up first in the Pacific Division, but are too far back of the Avalanche to catch them for first in the conference. On the other hand, the Wild are playing for second place and home ice advantage in a first round playoff matchup against the Blues.

That may be another reason why the Wild are favored in the Thursday NHL odds. The Flames will likely rest some of their better players in their last two games of the season.

Injuries are becoming a bit of a concern for the Wild though, specifically on the blue line with captain Jared Spurgeon leaving Tuesday’s game and joining Matt Dumba in the infirmary.

Jared Spurgeon down the tunnel. Not great! pic.twitter.com/FAUFhC3vUI

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2022

Expect the Wild to bounce back after a shocking loss to Arizona, but the best NHL prediction here is to bet the over. Both teams have offenses that have been firing on all cylinders lately with both squads hitting the over consistently over their last few games.

Add in the fact that Minnesota will likely be missing a couple of their best defensemen and the -121 odds to go over the total at Barstool sportsbook are too good to pass up.

Pick: Over 6 (-121)