San Jose vs Minnesota Prediction 12 January 2025

🔊 Can the "Sharks" put up resistance against one of the Western leaders? San Jose continues to firmly hold its place at the bottom of the Western Conference standings. It seems that the club isn't particularly eager to save this season. Minnesota, on the other hand, continues its pursuit of the top spot in the West and is doing so quite successfully.

📊 Head-to-Head

The opponents have already met once in the current regular season. In early November, the "Wild" easily and convincingly triumphed in California (5:2). The biggest contribution to his team's success was made by Minnesota forward Matthew Boldy. The American scored twice at a crucial moment. The player is currently in great form and has scored points in two of the last three matches.

🦈 San Jose

All current results of the "Sharks" should be viewed through the lens that the lower the club's position in the standings at the end of the regular season, the higher they will pick in the draft and get a new young star in the lineup. It's not to say that the club is deliberately losing its matches; that's not the case. But the current lineup, in principle, does not allow high goals to be set for the team. In the last ten matches, Ryan Warsofsky's squad has won only two - against Tampa (2:1) and New Jersey (3:2). In all other cases, the home team was left without points. Approximately this ratio of successes and failures will accompany the team until the end of the regular season.

🟢 Minnesota

The "Wild" continue to suffer from injuries. For the away series of matches, Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin, and Brock Faber did not travel with the team. All three are injured and unable to participate in regular-season games. However, these losses have not yet affected the results. In the last five matches, John Hynes' team has secured four victories, with only one slip-up against Colorado (1:6). That match was accompanied by a huge number of mistakes by the current visitors, and we have no doubt that appropriate conclusions have already been drawn by the coaching staff. Minnesota remains third in the East and is quite capable of challenging the conference leaders.

🔗 Probable Lineups

San Jose: Georgiev - Tran, Ceci - Eklund, Granlund, Zetterlund

Minnesota: Gustavsson - Brodin, Faber - Boldy, Rossi, Zuccarello

🥅 Goalkeepers

San Jose goalkeeper Alexander Georgiev has become noticeably more relaxed and composed on the ice since joining the "Sharks." Shedding the burden of responsibility for results, the Russian has clearly become more confident in himself. In his last two matches, he maintained a save percentage of 92.3%. However, the overall weakness of his new team did not allow the goalie to record two wins.

Minnesota's goaltender Filip Gustavsson unexpectedly faltered in the game against Colorado and allowed six goals for the first time this season. At least twice, the Swede could have saved his team. Given the "Wild's" lineup issues, much depends on the goalkeeper here, so he cannot afford similar failures.

📝 Editorial Prediction

It's hard to believe in even minimal problems for the "Wild" in the upcoming game. San Jose in its current state cannot put up decent resistance even against much less experienced opponents. The crushing defeat in their last match should only motivate the "Wild" to quickly make up for this setback. The absence of Kirill Kaprizov should not be a significant obstacle for the team. There are others who can score without the Russian. Our key bet is Minnesota to win in regulation time.