Motion-blurred skater in a Minnesota Wild sweater
Preview · MIN at SEA

The Wild are the model's lean over the Kraken — with PDO regression in play

The model's leanSat, Oct 24
Written from the numbers

The read

Model draft
◆ By the ModelOct 24, 9:04 AMRaw model copyDrafted from NHL play-by-play by Backcheck's model. Nobody at Backcheck was at the rink. How this works

The model projects a MIN 3.4 - 3.1 SEA game with the Wild at 56% win probability.

Keys to the game

  • The Wild own the underlying play . The Wild own the underlying play — 57.4% 5v5 xG vs 47.3%.
  • The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% . The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% — expect territorial tilt.
  • Regression watch: Kraken. The Kraken's PDO is 1.055 — running hot, expect some regression.

Season 5v5 Numbers

MetricMINSEA
xG%57.4%47.3%
Corsi%52.7%43.3%
PDO1.0071.055

Where the Edges Live

  • The Wild own the underlying play — 57.4% 5v5 xG vs 47.3%.
  • The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% — expect territorial tilt.

Regression Watch

  • The Kraken's PDO is 1.055 — running hot, expect some regression.

Goaltending Matchup

  • Goalie matchup: J. Wallstedt (+5.3 GSAx in 10 GP, 91.5% SV) vs P. Grubauer (+0.8 GSAx in 7 GP, 90.7% SV).

Data: NHL API, Backcheck xG model

Live from the league

The game, as it happens

Puck drop 10:00 PM ET

Once the puck drops, every goal and every shot lands here as it happens — the scorer, the clock, and the shot map with the replay — straight from the league's feed. The desk writes the recap after the final horn.

Win probability

The model's lean

MIN 56%
56%
MIN
Model favorite
56%
44%
MIN50SEA

MIN by 12 points of win probability — a modest lean. Projected score MIN 3.4–3.1 SEA; 16% chance it's tied after 60.

Source · Backcheck Poisson projection · season scoring rates
New to these numbers?

This is a preview, so every number on it is about form and rates — what each club has been doing, not what it will do tonight.

The strip above is the model's lean, built from each side's chance creation and prevention, goaltending, rest and home ice. It is not a betting line and nobody here is telling you to wager on it. Full glossary →

Win prob
How often this matchup ends in a win for that club, over many simulated tries. It is a lean, not a prediction — 60% teams lose plenty.
xGF/60
Expected goals a club creates per sixty minutes of play — its scoring-chance rate, independent of how many games it has played.
xGA/60
The same rate for chances it gives up. Lower is better.
PDO
Shooting % plus save % — a luck gauge that drifts back toward 1.000. Well above it flags a club that has been running hot.
Season rates · 5v5

Tale of the tape

NHL stats API · our xG
MIN← edge
edge →SEA
57.4%47.3%
52.7%43.3%
3.952.97
2.923.30
2.913.82
2.453.36
1.0071.055

MIN holds 5 of 6 process categories — and the luck row (1.007 vs 1.055) says SEA has been getting the bounces, which tends not to last.

Source · NHL stats API + our xG · 5v5
Form · Last 10
MIN
5-3-2
+3 GD · 1d rest
SEA
6-3-1
+2 GD · 1d rest
1.007
MIN PDO
Luck gauge · drifts to 1.000
1.055
SEA PDO
Luck gauge · drifts to 1.000
What decides it

Keys to the game

TACTICAL

The Wild own the underlying play

The Wild own the underlying play — 57.4% 5v5 xG vs 47.3%.

TACTICAL

The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7%

The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% — expect territorial tilt.

WARNINGSEA

Regression watch: Kraken

The Kraken's PDO is 1.055 — running hot, expect some regression.

Weight the underlying numbers over the recent results.

Where the edges live
  • The Wild own the underlying play — 57.4% 5v5 xG vs 47.3%.
  • The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% — expect territorial tilt.
Regression watch
  • The Kraken's PDO is 1.055 — running hot, expect some regression.
Things to watch
  • The Wild own the underlying play — 57.4% 5v5 xG vs 47.3%.
  • The Wild drive Corsi at 52.7% — expect territorial tilt.
  • Goalie matchup: J. Wallstedt (+5.3 GSAx in 10 GP, 91.5% SV) vs P. Grubauer (+0.8 GSAx in 7 GP, 90.7% SV).
  • The Kraken's PDO is 1.055 — running hot, expect some regression.
Last game's lineup · confirmed at warm-up

Lineups

NHL box score
MIN
vs CGY · Thu, Oct 22
Expected in goal
J. Wallstedt
1 day rest.909 last start57:57 played
Backup Calvin Pickard · -2.3 GSAx this season
Forwards · 12
  • B. Brink13:57
  • M. Boldy25:05
  • Y. Trenin10:49
  • J. Eriksson Ek23:14
  • T. Pitlick06:44
  • B. Coleman14:23
  • D. Yurov19:27
  • R. Hartman13:15
  • M. McCarron11:28
  • R. Lorenz08:40
  • N. Sturm09:52
  • K. Kaprizov24:54
Defence · 6
  • O. Maatta14:16
  • Z. Bogosian14:18
  • J. Brodin19:06
  • Q. Hughes31:04
  • J. Spurgeon19:19
  • D. Hunt16:09
SEA
vs UTA · Thu, Oct 22
Expected in goal
P. Grubauer
1 day rest.917 last start59:41 played
Backup Joey Daccord · -2.8 GSAx this season
Forwards · 12
  • J. Eberle18:19
  • C. Stephenson16:37
  • M. Beniers18:42
  • M. Samoskevich12:44
  • J. McCann16:42
  • R. Winterton11:58
  • B. Catton14:26
  • S. Wright11:34
  • B. Meyers13:07
  • B. McMann17:02
  • K. Kakko13:22
  • F. Gaudreau15:25
Defence · 6
  • A. Larsson22:26
  • J. Mahura10:18
  • V. Dunn25:53
  • R. Evans22:33
  • V. Ottavainen07:51
  • B. Montour26:38

Lineups are the players who dressed in each club's last game, with their minutes; clubs confirm tonight's at warm-up. Every player this preview names was in that lineup.

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