St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild Picks and Predictions for Thursday October 15 2026
The St. Louis Blues head to St. Paul on Thursday, October 15, 2026, to face the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena. Puck drop is at 8:00 PM ET. St. Louis just hammered Ottawa 7-2, while Minnesota lost 5-2 to Winnipeg. The Blues were listed as -174 favorites at FanDuel, with the Wild at +144 and the total at 6.5 goals. I’m taking Minnesota. Yeah, I know St. Louis just scored seven. But are we really expecting the Blues to do that again against a team that’s been getting some excellent goaltending? I don’t. Minnesota is back home after a rough night in Winnipeg, and I think the Wild are going to be a lot tougher to score against Thursday. Make sure you check out all of our free NHL picks.
St. Louis Blues Have Found Their Scoring Touch
St. Louis is 3-2-1 and has won two straight. The Blues beat Columbus 5-3 on Saturday, then went into Ottawa and scored seven. Seven! Three different skaters scored twice against the Senators, and St. Louis pretty much had its way with them by the third period. That’s a nice turnaround for a team that had been having trouble scoring earlier in the season. The Blues lost 6-1 to Colorado and 4-2 to Chicago before getting things straightened out. Now they’ve scored 12 goals in two games. Not bad. But I’d be careful about expecting another seven-goal night. Minnesota has been much better defensively than Ottawa was Tuesday.
The Blues have scored 21 goals through six games, averaging 3.5 per night. They’ve also allowed 18. That’s three goals against per game. Not terrible, but not exactly airtight. St. Louis has been getting about 26 shots per game, so the offense has been finishing a good percentage of its chances. That’s encouraging. The power play hasn’t been all that impressive, sitting around 14%. Minnesota has been much better with the extra attacker. That’s something the Blues need to watch. St. Louis can score at even strength, and that seven-goal game showed it. But I’d rather see the Blues prove they can keep doing it against a goalie who’s been stopping more than 93% of the shots he faces.
The goaltending has been a mixed bag for St. Louis. One of its main options is around a .920 save percentage with a goals-against average under two. That’s excellent. The other has been having a much harder time. The Blues got away with allowing two goals against Ottawa because they scored seven themselves. That won’t happen every night. St. Louis also has injuries on defense and up front. Logan Mailloux and Tyler Tucker have been unavailable, while Alexey Toropchenko is dealing with an upper-body injury. Nico Sturm has also been sidelined. Those absences matter against a Minnesota team that can score on the power play. The Blues have been playing better lately, but I’d want to know who’s starting in net before I got too excited about betting on them.
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Minnesota Wild Need A Better Night Than Tuesday
Minnesota is 4-1-1 and has been pretty good through the opening stretch. The Wild beat Florida 4-1 on Saturday and followed that with a 4-2 win over Vegas on Monday. Then they went to Winnipeg and lost 5-2. That one got away from them. Minnesota had been doing a nice job keeping opponents off the scoreboard, but Winnipeg found too many openings. It happens. I’m not throwing away the Wild’s first six games because of one bad night. Minnesota has been winning with good goaltending, a dangerous power play and enough offense to make opponents uncomfortable. Getting back home should help, too. St. Louis has been scoring lately, but I think the Wild are capable of slowing things down.
Minnesota is averaging around three goals per game and allowing a little more than two. Those are good numbers. The Wild have been getting about 28 shots a night and haven’t needed to score five or six to win. The power play is the number I like. Minnesota has been converting more than a third of its opportunities. That’s excellent. St. Louis has been closer to 14%. Quite a difference. Minnesota has also been much better on the penalty kill, stopping more than 90% of opposing power plays in the available matchup figures. So if this game gets physical and both teams end up in the box, I’d rather be holding a Wild ticket. St. Louis has the hotter offense right now. Minnesota has been the better defensive team over the whole opening stretch.
The Wild have been getting terrific goaltending. Their main starter is 4-1-1 with a save percentage around .933 and a goals-against average close to 1.82. That’s why I’m comfortable backing Minnesota after the loss to Winnipeg. One bad result doesn’t suddenly make those numbers disappear. The Wild also have a six-goal scorer and a defenseman producing close to a point and a half per game. Plenty of talent there. Injuries are worth watching, though. Filip Gustavsson has been unavailable, while Brock Faber is out on defense. Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno have also been sidelined, and Nico Sturm was hurt during the Vegas game. Minnesota isn’t completely healthy. But the goaltending has been holding up, and that power play can make up for a lot of missing pieces.
St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild Picks and Predictions
Moneyline Pick: Minnesota Wild +144
I’m taking Minnesota at +144. Look, St. Louis just scored seven. I saw it. The Blues have 12 goals in their last two games, so I’m not pretending the offense has been bad. But Minnesota has been getting excellent goaltending, and its power play is operating at more than 30%. That’s a nice combination, especially at home. The biggest concern is Minnesota’s injury list. The Wild are missing some important help, and St. Louis has been finding the net from different lines. That could make this uncomfortable. But I like getting plus money on a Wild team that’s been playing better defensive hockey for most of the season. Tuesday was ugly. I don’t think it happens again. Give me Minnesota.
Total Pick: Under 6.5 Goals
I’ll take Under 6.5 goals. I know what you’re thinking. St. Louis just scored seven, and Minnesota allowed five. Why am I betting under? Because I’m not expecting either of those games to repeat itself. The Wild have been allowing a little more than two goals per game, and their main goalie has a .933 save percentage. That’s excellent. St. Louis has also gotten some strong goaltending when it uses the right starter. The worry is the special teams. Minnesota’s power play has been dangerous, and the Blues have enough offense to score three or four if things get loose. But I think Minnesota settles this game down after what happened in Winnipeg. Something like 3-2 Wild sounds about right. I’ll take the under.
Final Picks: Minnesota Wild Moneyline +144 and Under 6.5 Goals.
Disclaimer: This preview was prepared October 14, 2026. Betting odds, injuries and starting goalies may change before puck drop.
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