BEST LINES:  Pinnacle -½ +147 BET 365 -½ +140 SportsInteraction -½ +140 5DIMES -½ +140

Posted at 12:15 PM EST.

7:35 PM EST. Regulation only. Prior to last night’s game in New York at MSG, the Wild had dropped five in a row and nine of their past 10 games. They also traded away Charlie Coyle and were listening to offers for Eric Staal among others. It appeared as though Minnesota was throwing in the proverbial towel and the market jumped all over the Rangers as a small home favorite. We don’t have to tell you what happened next, as the Wild emerged with a 4-1 victory. This now presents a classic zig-zag situation, whereas the market is a game too late again. We’re not sure if the Wild have thrown in the towel or not but what we know for sure is that the Wild will play their fourth game in six nights here, their third game in four days and the tail end of back-to-backs. They were an underdog last night in New York and now they’re favored here, depending on where you shop, as some joints have the Wild slightly favored while other have the Red Wings slightly favored but either way, it is incorrect. In other words, the Wild cannot be a dog in New York and then the evenly priced the very next day in Detroit.

Minnesota is favored here because results influence the market more than performances. The Red Wings are still perceived as a dreg in this market when they are anything but. We cannot overstate how competitive but unlucky the Red Wings have been but that’s fine with us, as we get some favorable lines with them. Detroit has lost three in a row to Philadelphia x2 and to Chicago but they deserved to be 3-0 and not 0-3. Against Chicago last time out, a 5-4 OT loss, Jimmy Howard allowed four goals against on the first eight shots and was yanked. Detroit dominated that game from start to finish, outshooting the Blackhawks 38-20, out-chancing them 20-14 while clearly winning the puck possession battle. The Red Wings back-to-back losses to Philadelphia was much of the same thing, where Detroit was the better team in both games with nothing to show for it. In fact, Detroit allowed a mere 20, 22 and 32 shots on net in those three games and lost two of them in OT.

Detroit’s 19 losses this year by one goal is by far the worst (luck) in the league and that doesn’t include games where they were down by one goal late, pulled their goalie and lost by two goals. Since January 7, a span of six weeks covering 25% of the season or the past 20 games, Detroit ranks 9th in Corsi For % during five-on-five play right between the surging Blue Notes and the Maple Leafs.

The Red Wings also rank 6th over that same span in Scoring Chances Against. Again, the results aren’t there but the effort and performances are and therefore the wins will inevitably start coming and we’ll gladly put that to the test here.

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