GDT #47: Blues @ Wild| 6:00 pm CT | NBCSN, 101 ESPN

[gaijin]

The St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild will meet for just the fourth time this season on Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center. A series of postponements has led to the limited matchups, but the teams will meet three times over the next four days. The season series will wrap up with a two-game set on May 12 and 13 at Enterprise Center.

The Blues climbed back into playoff position Monday with a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche. The Arizona Coyotes, who have played three more games but sit one point behind St. Louis, will play Wednesday against San Jose.

THE SERIES SO FAR
March 25: Wild 2, Blues 0
The Blues fired 37 shots on goal and limited the Wild to only 11 shots, but still fell 2-0 at Xcel Energy Center. Cam Talbot recorded a 37-save shutout to extend Minnesota's home winning streak to 11 games.

April 9: Blues 9, Wild 1
Ryan O'Reilly scored his second career hat trick en route to a statement 9-1 Blues' win at Enterprise Center. Justin Faulk and Sammy Blais each had a goal and two assists and Jaden Schwartz scored two goals to give the Wild their most lopsided loss in franchise history - never before had the Wild given up nine goals in a single game. It was the Blues' best offensive performance since a 10-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings on March 30, 2011.

April 10: Blues 3, Wild 2 (OT)
With the St. Louis Blues trailing 2-1 in the final minute, Mike Hoffman delivered a game-tying goal with Ville Husso pulled and 42 seconds left in regulation. It was Hoffman's second goal of the game after being a healthy scratch in the previous two games. Then, with two seconds left in overtime, Ryan O'Reilly roofed a backhand shot over goalie Cam Talbot's shoulder to cap off a dramatic win at Enterprise Center - the Blues' third straight.

BLUE NOTES
The Blues have outscored the Wild 12-5 in their three meetings this season and have points in seven of their last eight matchups (6-1-1)... Vladimir Tarasenko has 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 29 career games against the Wild... Jordan Binnington is 4-1-0 with a 1.01 goals-against average and a .963 save-percentage in his career against Minnesota... Ryan O'Reilly is set to play in his 200th game as a Blue on Wednesday. Zach Sanford's next game will be the 200th of his NHL career.

Dunn: Out
Parayko: Gametime decision

Even though the Wild are the team just ahead of the Blues in the standings, they aren't exactly in striking distance, being 17 points ahead.

The Blues need a strong showing, not to gain ground on the Wild, but to ensure other teams don't jump ahead. It looks (and has looked for a while) like the Blues are 4th Place or no playoffs at all.

[ibldbl]

Hoffman scores quickly on the PP to make it 2-1 Wild, but next shift after, the Wild score because the Blues are asleep.

3-1

[ibldbl]

Hoffman scores again on the PP. Only down by 1.

[ibldbl]

Thomas to Kyrou for the tying goal!

[ComradeT]

Guys, excuse me but ROAR BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ibldbl]

Guys, excuse me but ROAR BACON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm having flashbacks!

[ibldbl]

Flagrant giveaway by Sanford and Binnington makes the save. Thank God!

[ComradeT]

I don't get Sanford's deal. The guy is just a smoothbrain sometimes. Speaking of inexplicable, Kyrou had the puck taken off his stick twice because he forgets there are other players on the ice besides him.

[ibldbl]

Thomas scores with 23 seconds left in the third for the lead!!!!

[flyingnote38]

wow. that's the sort of goal we usually give up

thank you thank you thank you

[ComradeT]

Minnesota Wild, meet Robert "The Elite" Thomas.

[ibldbl]

What a COMEBACK!!! What a 3rd period! Blues win 4-3!

[Portland Blues]

Holy Crap! Thought it was all over after going down 3-1. What a 3rd period.

[gaijin]

Holy Crap! Thought it was all over after going down 3-1. What a 3rd period.

Same here.

[gaijin]

Holy Crap! Thought it was all over after going down 3-1. What a 3rd period.

Same here.

[Robb_K]

Great comeback win for The Blues! I just finished watching it. I missed it in real time, helping my niece to move into her new apartment. Nice to see Thomas back, and scoring the winning goal. He played well all game. Nice to see him shooting more. the Blues had plenty of energy in The 3rd. Nice to see that, too. I feel confident that they'll hang onto the 4th Place playoff position. But, I wonder if it will take Binnington playing every remaining game? Kyrou looked very good at generating offensive plays. I'm anxious to see him perform on another level in the playoffs. And Thomas seems to finally be starting to blossom in The NHL. I look for The Blues to take at least 2 of these 3 games from The Wild.

[theohall]

Amazing comeback!! If the Blues can figure out how to play better in 2nd periods more consistently, they will have it figured out. Blues 3rd periods have been outstanding all season - as evidenced by the sheer number of come from behind wins they've engineered.

It probably is going to take Binnington playing out the string, but I don't see Binner playing back-to-back nights. He just hasn't done well in those, so we'll see who is in net Thursday night. I don't like saying this, but while Husso has had 2 or 3 outstanding games, the majority of his outings have been pedestrian at best.

Thomas is finally starting to look like the 1st round draft pick the Blues drafted who excelled at every level before having to deal with adjusting to the NHL and fighting off injuries.

Totally agreed on Kyrou needing to use his teammates better. He's too focused on trying to create space for himself first, but he gets away with it pretty doggone often. He and Thomas clearly understand where the other is going to be and seem to be feeding off of each other.

Hoffman has actually played good the last 3 games. Hoping to see that continue.

Sanford on the other hand - I'd rather see the Blues roll 11 forwards and 7 D than continue to put Sanford in the lineup. That 11 forwards thing will give the better forwards more ice time and eliminate the up and down BS related to Sanford playing.

Can't say enough about Tarasenko and how he's changed his game to accommodate whomever he happens to be on the ice with. Hoffman's 2nd PPG - Tarasenko going below the goalline and then driving the the net opened the passing lane to Hoffman when the Wild LD completely vacated his box position to follow Tarasenko. The Wild basically decided they were going to over-defend 91 and it left no one to account for Hoffman - who made them pay for that decision - on both Blues power play goals.

Great win after what looked like a not-so-good start and another bad 2nd period.

Thanks gaijin for picking up the GDT. Was watching a grandkid for the past 3 days while the daughter-in-law was bringing another grandson into the world and had extremely limited time. It was only supposed to be 1 night, but turned into 3 days.

[Portland Blues]

Thanks gaijin for picking up the GDT. Was watching a grandkid for the past 3 days while the daughter-in-law was bringing another grandson into the world and had extremely limited time. It was only supposed to be 1 night, but turned into 3 days.

Congrats on the newest grandson!

[theohall]

Thanks!!!

One other comment on Thomas Game Winner. He actually managed to flatten the puck before he lifted it over Talbot. That's some amazing skill. If you slow down the replay of the goal, you can see when Thomas is shooting it - the puck is flat on the ice... amazing skill to generate that goal!!

[WaukeeBlues]

A quote I agreed with "Wild taking the Blues to the woodshed" in the 2nd period. My God did the Blues look bad. Losing every race to the puck and puck battle, running around in the D zone, not clearing the zone... just awful.

Phenomenal comeback and you love to see it but we can't keep getting away with these late game comebacks.

This is most engaged, spirited and happy that I've seen Hoffman all year. Maybe with the uncertainty of the trade deadline past now he can just focus on playing. Winning and scoring helps obviously but just his play: he was actually getting in there and grinding a bit last night. His shot from the circle area is just so f**** lethal, that thing is nasty.

Faulk played almost 30 minutes last night. That's not sustainable, we need depth back there on the blueline. The Parayko injury this year has been downright devastating and exposes the lack of D depth we used to enjoy. Krug hasn't had nearly the effect on the team that I thought he'd have but hopefully that's just the whole "Year 1" thing?