WILD (37-24-7) at BLUES (43-19-5)
TV: FS-N, FS-MW
Season series: The St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild in a shootout in the only game of the season thus far the Central Division rivals, who see each other twice more before the season ends. Vladimir Tarasenko scored in regulation and got the winner in the shootout. David Backes scored the tying goal in the third period for the Blues. Jake Allen made 36 saves didn't allow a goal in the shootout.
Wild team scope: Minnesota had won six of seven before losing 2-1 on home ice to the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. It was the Wild's sixth straight home loss to the Ducks, each by one goal. Zach Parise scored his team-leading 27th goal in a losing effort. Goalie Devan Dubnyk started his 26th straight game for the Wild and could be spelled by either Niklas Backstrom or Darcy Kuemper on Saturday. Minnesota concluded its three-game homestand with a 1-2-0 record. It's a quick two-game trip for the Wild, which includes a visit to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Blues team scope: St. Louis held an optional skate Friday. Left wing Patrik Berglund was among the seven skaters after being a healthy scratch Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. He is scheduled to play Saturday. Injured defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk (abdomen) and Zbynek Michalek (concussion) skated but are not ready to return to the lineup, although Michalek is close. Center Olli Jokinen (upper body) will not be ready to play and is day to day. The Blues have made up nine points on the Predators since Feb. 24 and are first in the Central Division; each team has 91 points, but the Blues have played two fewer games. "We've got to stay within ourselves, just play our game," right wing T.J. Oshie said. "Our main focus is to be playing our best hockey. If we're in first place and that's the way we do it, fine." Goalie Brian Elliott, who tied Jaroslav Halak for the most shutouts in franchise history with 20 after shutting out the Flyers 1-0 in a shootout on Thursday, will start again. The Blues are 9-0-3 at home against the Wild since their last regulation loss on Oct. 20, 2007.
Five of the St. Louis Blues' remaining 15 games come against two of the teams chasing them in the Central Division, so even a double-digit point lead over one of those teams isn't necessarily secure.
But the fact that three of those will be played against the Minnesota Wild should provide some comfort.
St. Louis will try for an 11th win in 12 games in the series Saturday night while also attempting to extend a run of home dominance over Minnesota that stretches back more than seven years.
The Blues (43-19-5) have won three straight and are tied with Nashville atop the Central with 91 points and two games in hand. Chicago, which plays St. Louis twice more, is five points back and Minnesota (37-24-7) is behind by 10.
The Blues haven't lost at home in regulation to the Wild since Oct. 20, 2007, going 9-0-3 since. Overall, they're on a 10-1-0 run in the series while allowing 1.55 goals per game.
Thursday's 1-0 shootout victory over Philadelphia set them up to complete a perfect three-game homestand before leaving for six on the road.
Nashville has lost seven of eight while St. Louis' 5-1-1 record since dropping three of four has put it back in the driver's seat.
"We went through the slump and (the Predators) kind of pulled away," right wing Ryan Reaves told the Blues' official website. "But I've been saying this all season, every team kind of goes through that. They're just going through it right now. It allowed us to catch up. We've just got to keep plugging away because you don't know what they're going to do over there."
That seven-game stretch has included a 21 of 22 penalty kill, and Brian Elliott's strong goaltending has also been a big part of it. He'll get a fifth straight start against the Wild after making 28 saves against the Flyers for his 20th shutout in his fourth season with St. Louis to match the franchise record.
Elliott shared the night with coach Ken Hitchcock, who became the fourth NHL coach to record 700 wins, joining Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour and current Chicago coach Joel Quenneville.
"Every day we play we're trying to become harder and harder to play against, and that's what was nice today," Hitchcock said. "We didn't give them very much. We were hard to play against, very determined on the puck.
"That's what we're trying to build here. That group, the way it's going to get built here, we're not going to be fun to play against if we play the right way."
Elliott is 5-1-0 with a 1.60 goals-against average over his last seven appearances, and he's been about as good against Minnesota with a career 6-0-0 record and 1.76 GAA in eight games.
He wasn't in goal for 3-2 shootout victory at Minnesota on Nov. 29 to open the season series, and counterpart Devan Dubnyk wasn't even with the Wild.
Dubnyk made his 26th straight start Friday in the Wild's 2-1 home loss to Anaheim, their second in three games after a five-game winning streak.
He's 19-5-2 with a 1.69 GAA since joining Minnesota, but now might be the time to give him a break. Dubnyk has dropped all seven career starts against St. Louis in regulation with a 4.72 GAA, though he hasn't faced the Blues in more than two years.
The Wild had averaged 3.14 goals over the preceding 6-1-0 span and weren't discouraged by the one-goal effort against the Ducks.
"We had a lot of looks there at the end, bouncing off bodies and going just wide," defenseman Ryan Suter said. "That's a good team."