Wild at Blues
The St. Louis Blues look to get a stranglehold on their Western Conference first-round series when they host the Minnesota Wild for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon. The Blues won the opener 2-1 in overtime behind a remarkable 51-save performance by Jake Allen and triumphed in Game 2 by the same score as Jaden Schwartz scored the winning goal with 2:27 left in the third period.
“It’s a good start for us, but the job’s not over yet,” Schwartz told reporters. “We know the last two are going to be the hardest, and it starts in Game 3. They’re going to throw everything at us, and we’re excited to go home, for sure.” Defenseman Joel Edmundson netted the winner in the opener and scored again in Game 2 for St. Louis, while Zach Parise has recorded both tallies in the series for Minnesota as Allen has turned aside 74 shots in the two contests. The Wild were second in the league in scoring during the regular season (3.21 goals per game) but were shut down by the Blues on home ice and must find their form quickly. “Not that it’s not going to be a tough task, but let’s face it, both games could’ve gone either way,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters. “So, I don’t see why we can’t go in there and do the same thing to them that they did to us.”
TV: 3 p.m. ET, NBC, Sportsnet, TVA
ABOUT THE BLUES: Schwartz, who recorded 11 points in the last 11 games of the regular season, also notched an assist in Game 1 while linemate Vladimir Tarasenko has been held to one assist but shares the team lead with seven shots. Nine players have recorded a least one point in the series - including defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who has registered seven shots and a plus-2 rating. Zach Sanford is expected to play in place of Jori Lehtera for the second straight game Sunday and veteran blue-liner Robert Bortuzzo returned for Game 2 after missing five contests with an upper-body injury, forcing rookie Jordan Schmaltz to the sideline.
ABOUT THE WILD: Leading scorer Mikael Granlund has been held to one assist in the first two games and captain Mikko Koivu has produced the same while the linemates have combined for 10 shots. Minnesota will need to get some offense from Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker, who have registered 17 shots between them but no points. Defenseman Jonas Brodin struggled in the first two games - posting a minus-3 rating and no shots - in front of Devan Dubnyk, who has stopped 44 of the 48 shots he has faced after recording a career-high 40 wins in the regular season.
OVERTIME
1. Parise has registered 32 goals (11 on the power play) and 38 assists in 91 career playoff contests, notching 27 points in 30 games with Minnesota.
2. Edmundson, who scored only three goals in 69 regular-season games in 2016-17, has tallied in back-to-back contests for the first time in his career.
3. The Blues are 0-for-6 on the power play while the Wild converted in Game 2 to improve to 1-for-6 with the man advantage.