Wild at Blues
Having reclaimed home ice with a dominating performance in a lopsided romp, the St. Louis Blues are riding a wave of optimism as they prepare to host the Minnesota Wild in Friday's Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series. Vladimir Tarasenko scored a pair of goals as the Blues drubbed the Wild 6-1 on Wednesday to level the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.
"We're going to play our game now. We're not going to chase it around the rink like we did the first three games," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said." This is the way it's going to be for the next little while. If they can match it, great on them." The Blues amassed their highest postseason goal total since 2003 to snap a nine-game playoff drought on the road. Minnesota suffered the worst postseason defeat in franchise history only two nights after a convincing 3-0 victory over St. Louis. “We went from feeling awesome about ourselves, feeling like we can’t be beat after last game, and then you get a little dose of reality, a little slap in the face,” Wild forward Zach Parise said.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports, TVA, RSN, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE WILD: Minnesota turned its season around after acquiring Devan Dubnyk from Arizona in mid-January, but he had his worst performance since joining the club, giving up three goals in the first 10 minutes and six before he was yanked late in the second period. "It doesn't make a difference if we lost 1-0 or lost the way we did. It's 2-2 and we know we got better than that," said Dubnyk, adding that there was "zero panic" in the wake of the drubbing. The Wild will be looking to keep a lengthy streak intact - they have not lost back-to-back games in regulation since Jan. 11-13 - two days before Dubnyk made his team debut.
ABOUT THE BLUES: Tarasenko has not registered a shot on goal in either of St. Louis' losses, but he has been spectacular in both victories, following up his Game 2 hat trick with a pair of tallies in Wednesday's rout. Perhaps more importantly for the Blues was receiving offense from other sources - captain David Backes and Paul Stastny registered their first goals of the series and joined T.J. Oshie and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo with their first points of the postseason. "We had to assert ourselves," Backes said. "We've just got to stop this trend of every other game and play the same way in our building on Friday."
OVERTIME
1. Blues rookie G Jake Allen has not allowed more than two goals in 11 straight starts.
2. Minnesota has won 13 of its last 15 road games, but both defeats have come in St. Louis.
3. Blues D Kevin Shattenkirk collected three assists Wednesday to tie Anaheim's Corey Perry for the most points (seven) through four playoff games.