No NBA action on the board today except for the All Star game, so we’ll start our day at the sportsbooks with some NHL betting.  While the city of Vancouver is busy hosting the Winter Olympic games their hockey team, the Vancouver Canucks, is back east–and, yes, Minneapolis counts as ‘back east’ over here on the Pacific coast–trying to keep pace with the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.  Actually, the Canucks have fewer points than a number of teams but they lead the Northwest Division so they’re locked into the #3 playoff spot.  Their more immediate worry becomes staying ahead of the Colorado Avalanche, who are tied for the division lead with 76 points but Vancouver has the tiebreakers.  The Avs lost at Los Angeles last night so this is a good chance for Vancouver to put some distance between themselves and the second place team.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS VS. MINNESOTA WILD

The Wild have one of the most insane home/road performance disparities in the NHL.  At home, they play like a Stanley Cup contender with a 20-8-2 record.  On the road, they play like an expansion team with a 9-19-2 mark.  Canucks have a serviceable 14-14-1 road record but they’re nowhere near as dominant on enemy ice as they are at GM Place.

Canucks are in good form, winning 7 of their L10 games but all three losses came on the road.  Wild are only 5-6 in their L11 games, but 4 of those five wins came at home.  Statistically, Vancouver is a much better team offensively–they rank #3 in the NHL in goals per game compared to #15 for the Wild.  They’re a *much* better team defensively–at least from a statistical standpoint–ranking #4 in the NHL in goals against per game while Minnesota is #20.

And unlike many visiting teams, Vancouver has dominated the head to head matchups on the Wild’s home ice–they lost their last meeting in mid January but before that had won four straight and six of eight in Minnesota.  With Colorado nipping at their heels we look for the Canucks to put up a solid effort here as they try to go into the Olympic break leading the division.

BET VANCOUVER -115 OVER MINNESOTA