Wild at Blues
The St. Louis Blues will be trying to wipe out the memory of last season's first-round playoff ouster when they host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday in the opener of a Western Conference best-of-seven postseason series. The Blues wrapped up the Central Division by winning five of their last six, as opposed to a year ago when they dropped their final six and were drummed out of the playoffs by Chicago in six games.
St. Louis faces a division rival for the second straight season but coach Ken Hitchcock likes his chances a lot better than he did 12 months ago. “This is the team we want to take on the journey,” Hitchcock said. “We’ll be 100 percent (healthy) going into the playoffs, which is completely different from last year." The Wild used a sensational closing kick to reach the playoffs for the third straight season, going 28-9-3 down the stretch following the acquistion of goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Minnesota was 2-1-1 against the Blues this season but the regulation defeat - 4-2 in the season finale - snapped the Wild's NHL record-tying 12-game road winning streak.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports
ABOUT THE WILD (46-28-8): Dubnyk was muddling through nondescript seasons until he was dealt to Minnesota in mid-January and he promptly blanked Buffalo in his first start with the Wild - the first of four shutouts in a nine-game span - to ignite the torrid closing run. “It was immediate,” coach Mike Yeo said of Dubnyk's effect on his team. "You get a shutout in your first game and it’s hard to ask for much more than that. And we were able to keep it going.” Dubnyk's stellar play overshadowed the production of a resurgent offense that matched a franchise record with 226 goals scored, with Zach Parise leading the way with a team-high 33 tallies and 62 points and Nino Niederreiter (24), Thomas Vanek (21) and Jason Zucker (21) eclipsing 20 goals.
ABOUT THE BLUES (51-24-7): St. Louis' top two scorers, Vladimir Tarasenko (37 goals, 73 points) and Alexander Steen (64 points) missed five and six games, respectively, before returning for the regular-season finale and combining with rookie Jori Lehtera for three goals and three assists in the victory over Minnesota. The Blues had nine players with double-digit tallies and potent goal scorers in Jaden Schwartz (28) and captain David Backes (26), who scored a team-high 10 times on the power play. Brian Elliott was the No. 1 netminder for much of the season and earned the win over Minnesota on Saturday, but he was supplanted down the stretch by rookie Jake Allen, who allowed six goals over his last five starts (4-1-0) and will get the nod for the series opener.
OVERTIME
1. Tarasenko had three goals and two assists in the four matchups versus Minnesota this season.
2. Parise has nine goals in 16 career games against St. Louis.
3. The Wild's league-best penalty-killing unit will be tested by the Blues' fourth-ranked power play.