BLUES at WILD
TV: CNBC, SN1, TVA Sports 2, FS-MW, FS-N
Best-of-7 series tied 1-1
After wrestling home ice away from the St. Louis Blues, the Minnesota Wild will attempt to utilize the crowd at Xcel Energy Center to their advantage in Game 3 of their Western Conference First Round series Monday.
To do so, the Wild are going to have to play better on home ice than they did down the stretch of the regular season.
Minnesota's 22 home wins were 19th in the NHL during the regular season. But after winning seven of their first eight to start the season, the Wild went 15-12-6 in the next 33 games at Xcel Energy Center, including 4-5-1 in the last 10 and 0-2-1 in the last three.
"The last month is out the window for me," Wild coach Mike Yeo said Sunday. "For me, this is different. That said, I don't think we're just going to be good here at home. But I'm not nervous about the game tomorrow because of the way we played against Winnipeg in here (in a 2-0 loss in the home finale April 6) either. Let's see how good we are at home. We were a real good playoff team at home last year (5-1). I know our home crowd was a big factor in that."
Minnesota won more games on the road (24) that it did at home this season, when it tied an NHL record with 12 straight road wins before losing the regular-season finale in St. Louis.
Wild left wing Zach Parise said there's nothing to it once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.
"I don't think there is anything that I can pinpoint why we were better on the road; I'm not sure," Parise said. "I'm not sure why the year before it was kind of the opposite. Regardless, it's a new season now, and we know there is going to be a lot of energy in here and we've responded well in the past and hopefully we can do that. But nothing is going to be handed to us, it's still going to be a tough game, but we like playing here and hopefully we get a little better luck than we did in the season."
On the flip side, the Blues, who evened the best-of-7 series with a 4-1 victory in Game 2, want to carry over their strong road play from the regular season, when they matched the Wild with 24 road victories.
The Blues split two games against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center in the regular season.
"You've got to feel confident going on the road, especially the way we played this year," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "I thought we played some real good hockey down the stretch, especially on the road. We played some smart hockey. We're going to need to continue to do that because that's not an easy rink to go in and play."
The Blues finished their road schedule winning six of nine and earning at least a point in eight of nine (6-1-2). St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock thinks it makes a difference moving forward.
"We've been a good road team," Hitchcock said. "Sometimes, it's because you're a little bit nervous or you don't want to get beat, and so you have a real edge to your game and your focus. And I think we've played good on the road because our focus has been narrow and simple, and when we play a simple game, it's effective.
"We've got to go there and play really well. We've got to play within our structure, because we're going to have to win a game to take it back to get home ice back again, and so I think when we keep our focus narrow, we're very, very good."
Any momentum from a 51-win season and a Central Division title seemed to fade for the St. Louis Blues with a disappointing playoff-opening defeat.
It may have returned when Vladimir Tarasenko took control two days later.
Heading into St. Paul with the first-round series tied at one, the Blues look to both build on Tarasenko's stellar play and continue their physically imposing style Monday night against the Minnesota Wild.
After St. Louis looked uninspired in a 4-2 Game 1 loss, Tarasenko recorded his third career hat trick -- first in the postseason -- while rookie goaltender Jake Allen stopped 24 shots Saturday in St. Louis' 4-1 win.
"We need him to rise up," coach Ken Hitchcock said of Tarasenko. "For us to have success, our best players have to be significant, and that was a big step today ... We needed more of that and we got it."
Allen, who finished the regular season with a 1.15 goals-against average in his final seven starts and earned the call over Brian Elliott in net, has stopped 49 of 52 shots in his first two playoff games as a starter.
"Very good," Alexander Steen said. "He was unbelievable. He made some key saves at times ... he was fantastic."
The Blues took a far more physical approach to Game 2 as Hitchcock decided to put enforcer Ryan Reaves alongside T.J. Oshie and David Backes to start the first period.
That approach yielded a combined 72 hits after St. Louis had just 47 on Thursday, and is one Devan Dubnyk and the Wild figure to see for the remainder of the series.
"It was a little different than the first game," Dubnyk said. "I'm sure it will continue to become more and more that way as the series goes on, but we know how to play that way and how to handle it and use our speed. We'll keep doing a good job of that."
Dubnyk stopped 23 of 26 shots in Game 2, dropping his save percentage to .909 in five starts this season against the Blues. Only one of those meetings took place in Minnesota -- a 6-3 Wild victory on March 21.
Minnesota went 12-5-0 in its first 17 home games following the acquisition of Dubnyk on Jan. 14, but dropped its last three at Xcel Energy Center to finish the season.
"You lose a game and it's frustrating, it's disappointing," coach Mike Yeo said. "We would have loved to win both games (in St. Louis), but when it comes down to it, I think we take confidence that we won the one game and played pretty strong in the second.
"Going back home doesn't guarantee anything either. They're a good team, and we have a lot of respect for them. We know we'll have to be at our best."
Zach Parise has a team-leading 60 points in his playoff career, 21 more than second-place Jason Pominville. He has two assists this series, and scored in three of four regular season matchups with St. Louis.
