Wild at Blues
The Minnesota Wild attempt to get their sputtering offense going and stay alive in their Western Conference first-round series when they visit the St. Louis Blues for Game 4 on Wednesday. The Wild, who were second in the league in scoring during the regular season (3.21 goals per game), have managed to get just three of their 117 shots past Jake Allen in three straight losses.
“We’ve got to find a way to get pucks through,” Minnesota forward Charlie Coyle, who scored the only goal in Sunday’s 3-1 loss in Game 3, told reporters. “We need more traffic, get inside their D-men. We’ve got to find ways to score, whatever it is. It’s now or never.” Minnesota's Devan Dubnyk surrendered just six goals in the first three games, but Allen has continued his red-hot play from the end of the regular season. Allen, who came into the series 3-5 all-time in the postseason, has allowed fewer than three goals in 15 of his last 19 starts and turned aside 40 shots in the Game 3 victory. “He’s calm back there,” Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo told reporters. “Anytime we need a save, a whistle, he’s there. We’re going to need him the rest of the way.”
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, Sportsnet360, TVA2, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE WILD: Minnesota outshot the Blues 117-79 in the first three games but has gone 1-for-10 on the power play, and its top four goal scorers in the regular season have yet to tally in the series. “We’re not playing bad,” defenseman Ryan Suter told reporters. “We just can’t score. If we can find a way to score a goal, it’s a different game.” Coach Bruce Boudreau reportedly made changes to his forward lines at practice Tuesday, moving Eric Staal between Coyle and leading scorer Mikael Granlund while captain Mikko Koivu centered Nino Niederreiter and Zach Parise.
ABOUT THE BLUES: Jaden Schwartz has recorded a goal in each of the last two games and a point in all three contests while Patrik Berglund has registered three assists along with a plus-3 rating. Alex Steen also has produced three points after netting an empty-net tally to clinch Game 3 and leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko (two assists) has unleashed 12 shots in the series - one behind Schwartz for the team lead. Veteran center Paul Stastny (foot), who last played on March 21 against Colorado, skated with the team at practice Tuesday and is day-to-day, according to coach Mike Yeo.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota LW Jason Zucker, who scored a career-high 22 goals during the regular season, has registered 12 shots but no points in the series.
2. The Blues have won six consecutive games overall and are 18-2-2 in their last 22 contests.
3. Koivu is suffering through a 20-game goal-scoring drought and has tallied just twice in his last 33 contests.