The final game on Sunday’s Stanley Cup playoff schedule is between the Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.
The pregame narrative: The Golden Knights come into this series with all the momentum. I’m taking the home side to cover the puck line at plus money. My other pick is on Jack Eichel to produce as a passer.
Check out my Wild vs. Golden Knights Game 1 predictions below.
Wild vs. Golden Knights predictions
Best Bet: Golden Knights -1.5 (+130)
The Wild started the season hot, winning 20 of their first 30 games (and four of the losses were in overtime).
That’s when the injury bug hit the locker room. First, it was Kirill Kaprizov, who was near the top of the NHL in scoring when he got hurt.
Other important pieces, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin, also dealt with injuries. All three guys missed more than 30 games.
The final day of the regular season was the first time Minnesota had a fully healthy roster since Nov. 20.
That led to some poor defensive statistics that I’m not sure can be fixed in such a short time.
- 7th-most shots against (29.6/game)
- 3rd-worst penalty kill (72.4%)
The Wild ranked closer to the middle of the pack for goals against, thanks to Filip Gustavsson, who had an excellent season (2.56 GAA, .914 SV%).
But he can only do so much when his team allows a high volume of chances at even strength and on the penalty kill.
Vegas comes into this series without injury issues, except for maybe Alex Pietrangelo, who’s still trying to find his stride after missing a couple of months.
The Knights finished second in the Western Conference and rank near the top of the NHL in several categories:
- 5th in goals/game (3.34)
- 4th in shots/game (30.3)
- 2nd in PP percentage (28.3%)
- 3rd in goals against/game (2.61)
They have the perfect style to capitalize on Minnesota’s weaknesses. I expect Vegas to dominate this game to take an early hold on this series.
Key stat: The Knights had a 29-9-3 record at home this season.
Quick pick
Eichel to record 1+ assists (-120): Eichel struggled down the stretch as he dealt with a minor upper-body injury that forced him to miss a few games.
That led to just one point in five appearances in April, but I’m not worried in the slightest.
Eichel was an assist machine this year. He finished sixth in the NHL with 66 assists and went on a tear in March.
During that month, he had 15 helpers and went 10-4 against this line. Considering the Wild are a below-average defensive team, Eichel has an early chance to make his mark on this series.
Eichel had five points (two assists) in two games against Minnesota this season.
Wild vs. Golden Knights predictions made at 11:21 a.m. ET 04/20/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.