Maple Leafs at Wild Odds, Preview & Betting Tips

There will be no complaints about Toronto’s postseason failures this season since they won’t be competing for Lord Stanley’s cup. If there were some holdouts, they were given a reality check by the club’s recent 8-game losing streak that has them near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

Minnesota is one of the best teams in the NHL against the NHL spread but they are stuck in the toughest division. A recent shutout win over Utah gave the Wild 87 points, more than all but one team outside the Central Division. Unfortunately they are behind the 2 best teams in the NHL.

Maple Leafs at Wild Preview

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota Wild conclude their 2-game season series on Sunday, March 16, 2026 at Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. ESPN will televise the game live, with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Public Betting Odds Factors

Back in mid-January the Leafs were in the middle of the playoff hunt. They’ve since played themselves nearly into last place in the Eastern Conference by losing 16 of 20 games. The Rangers are the only team between the Leafs and last place.

During a losing streak that stretched to 8 games with a 3-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday, the Leafs scored 2 goals or less 7 times. They did score 3 goals against New Jersey but still lost in a shootout, and their minus-26 goal differential is tied for worst in the East.

You wouldn’t expect a team that boasts Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander to endure a prolonged scoring slump. But when a bulk of the offense comes from those players and they slump the offense dries up. Matthews leads the team with 28 goals but has gone 12 straight games without one

Being the third-best team in the Central Division has kept the spotlight off the Wild. However, Carolina is the only team outside the division that currently has more points than Minnesota.

The Wild went all in with the acquisition of Quinn Hughes and he hasn’t disappointed. The Wild are 20-7-6 since Hughes joined the squad and he’s scored in all but 8 of those 33 games. He extended his point streak to 5 games with an assist against Utah and has at least one point in 16 of the last 17 games.

Defense has been a reason for the success of the top teams in the Central. Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota all rank among the top 5 in goal against average with Wild currently fifth allowing 2.79 goals per game.

Maple Leafs at Wild Predictions

Winning the Central is the only way for Minnesota to avoid Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs. If they can’t do that finishing with more points than the Stars at least gets the Wild home ice. So it would behoove them to take a stumbling Toronto squad seriously, especially when playing at home.

Though they’ve had difficulty scoring recently, the Leafs still rank in the middle of the pack overall averaging 3.11 goals per game. However, during their 8-game skid the average is below 2 goals and snipers Matthews, Tavares and Nylander have combined for 6 goals in that span.

Maple Leafs at Wild Betting Tips

The Wild have been one of the better home teams with a 68.2 points percentage and 19 wins. They beat current playoff teams Utah and Tampa Bay by a combined 10-1 score in their 2 most recent home games.

Toronto ranks 30th allowing 3.48 goals per game and the porous defense has allowed them to cash the OVER on the NHL betting line 3 times in the last 4 games.

With a record of 26-39 against the NHL puck line the Leafs are one of the least profitable teams in the league.

Maple Leafs at Wild Head to Head and Key Stats

Minnesota extended its winning streak to 3 games in the series with a 6-3 victory on Jan. 19 behind a Marcus Foligno hat trick.

The last 2 games in Minnesota were decided in overtime with each team getting a win, and 3 of the last 6 matchups needed the extra period to determine a winner.