The Minnesota Wild visit the St. Louis Blues in a key Central Division matchup tonight, in St. Louis.
As of right now, this will be a first round playoff matchup as the Wild hold the 2nd spot in the Central with a 1 point lead on the Blues. Minnesota is coming off a 6-2 loss, in Nashville, to the Predators on Tuesday night. Minnesota is led, offensively, by Kirill "The Thrill" Kaprizov who has 40 goals and 47 assists for 87 points this season. The trade deadline acquisition of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury makes this team a legitimate Stanley Cup Contender. After a cold streak, the Blues are winners of 3 in a row and 5 of their last 6. St. Louis is off a 4-1 home win against the Kraken on Wednesday night. St. Louis is led, offensively, by youngster Jordan Kyrou who has 23 goals and 40 assists on the season for 63 points. Kyrou is an electric and exciting skater, as evidenced by his fastest skater win at All Star weekend.
On the road this season, the Wild are averaging 3.31 goals per game and their Power Play is a 9th best 22.8%. This is a far cry from their 7th worst home Power Play. The Wild are allowing 3.14 goals per game on the road where their Penalty Kill is a 10th worst 76.3%. Minnesota is 6th in five on five goal scoring on the road and they are 7th in goals allowed. At home this season, the Blues are averaging a 4th most 3.69 goal per game and their Power Play is a 9th best 24.1%. The Blues are allowing 2.64 goals per game at home and their Penalty Kill is a 9th best 83.2%. The Blues are 3rd in five on five scoring at home and 12th in goals allowed.
These teams met once this season and that was in the Winter Classic on New Year's day which saw the Wild picking up a 6-4 win. 6 of the last 8 games in this series has gone over a total of 6, I see no reason to expect anything different tonight, in St. Louis.
