Minnesota Wild vs Dallas Stars Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 04/18/26

The Stanley Cup Playoffs will finally be underway for the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild when the puck drops on Saturday afternoon. The Stars have the home ice advantage in this very evenly matched first round matchup and I believe it will help give the Stars an edge. These two teams split the regular season series with two wins apiece. Both of these teams are very good on the defensive side of the puck. They both ranked inside the top five teams in the NHL for goals against. The Wild ranked fourth, averaging 2.87 goals against per game and the Stars were the second-best team in that category, averaging 2.71 goals against per game. Both starting netminders had impressive regular season numbers, Jesper Wallstedt of the Wild had a 2.62 GAA, while Jake Oettinger for the Stars has a 2.59 GAA.

I expect these teams to ease themselves into the playoffs with a buttoned up defensive first period as neither team will want to be the first to make a mistake. Playoff games are typically lower scoring, and I think that is what we will see in game one between the Stars and Wild. Give me the under in this one.

Wild vs. Stars prediction: Under 5.5 (+105) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.