Blues at Wild
The Minnesota Wild hope they found some answers with a four-game winning streak to end the regular season as they prepare to host Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. The Wild struggled through a baffling 4-11-2 stretch that took away a chance to win the Central Division but have turned the page, outscoring their last four opponents 17-9.
“This is my favorite time of year,” Minnesota forward Nino Niederreiter told reporters. “We play 82 games, and right from the beginning of the year, you’re always thinking about the playoffs and want to be there already. Now the time’s here, and everybody’s super-excited for it.” The Blues became a different team when Mike Yeo replaced Ken Hitchcock as coach on Feb. 1 and finished strong with points in 17 of their last 19 contests (15-2-2), including three straight wins to end the regular season. St. Louis sniper Vladimir Tarasenko came up just one goal shy of 40 and Jake Allen turned around his season by limiting opponents to two or fewer goals in 11 of his last 15 games. “It’s going to be a new challenge,” Yeo told reporters. “The thing that I like about it is, it doesn’t seem like these guys are going to shrink in the spotlight.”
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet360, TVA2, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), FSN North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE BLUES (46-29-7): St. Louis won’t have veteran center Paul Stastny (foot) to start the series and rookie Ivan Barbashev is expected to take the top-line center role between Tarasenko (75 points) and Jaden Schwartz (55). Vladimir Sobotka, who was signed to a three-year deal late in the regular season after a three-year stay in Russia, reportedly will play with Jori Lehtera and Alex Steen on another line while Patrik Berglund centers a third unit. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was solid down the stretch while recording two goals and four assists in his last four games.
ABOUT THE WILD (49-25-8): Devan Dubnyk, who struggled through the month of March with an .889 save percentage, has won all three of his starts this month to finish with a career-high 40 wins. Reportedly, Erik Haula is expected to play on the wing with captain Mikko Koivu and leading scorer Mikael Granlund (69 points) as coach Bruce Boudreau tries to even out his lines while 20-year-old rookie Joel Eriksson Ek likely will be in the lineup for Game 1. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon (lower body) missed the last two regular-season games but hopes to play Wednesday.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota Cs Eric Staal and Charlie Coyle both finished the season with four-game point streaks, each notching a goal and four assists.
2. St. Louis rookie D Jordan Schmaltz registered two assists in his first nine NHL games and is expected to be in the lineup for the series opener.
3. The Blues ranked third on the penalty kill during the regular season (84.8 percent) after going 9-for-9 over their last four games while the Wild finished eighth (82.9).