TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES The St. Louis Blues showed that they can hang with the best in the West on Sunday, falling in a tight battle to the No. 1-seeded Vegas Golden Knights.
The Blues tied the game early in the third and kept it close until a late empty-netter gave Vegas their conference-leading 41st win of the season.
"I think we did a lot of good things tonight - we were right in it until the end," said Robert Thomas. "Special teams was good, power play got a nice goal... We're a motivated group."
Jordan Kyrou followed up his hat trick from the day before with a goal and an assist and is now at a milestone 30 goals this season with 16 games still to play. Kyrou is 12 points shy of his career-best 75 points he set last season, currently at a point-per-game pace with 63 of each.
The Blues continue their March slate with a nationally-televised game against the division-rival Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night, heading out for a quick trip to Washington, D.C. on Friday.
They'll face the Wild with a record of 29-32-5, worth 63 points and sixth in the Central Division.
WILD The Minnesota Wild have put together a strong run of games over the last month, using a 10-0-3 record since Feb. 17 to take firm grasp of a playoff spot. Their 17 points in their last 10 games and their active 13-game point streak are both No. 1 in the NHL.
Star Kirill Kaprizov leads the team in points this season, but on March 9 it was announced that he will miss 3-4 weeks with a lower-body injury. Kaprizov leads the wild in goals (39) and points (74), though Mats Zuccarello will look to step up in Kaprizov's absence.
Though the point streak stayed alive, the Wild fell in a disappointing overtime game in Arizona on Sunday night. Getting out to a 4-2 lead in the second period, Minnesota then saw two goals from Arizona's Clayton Keller to force overtime and take the loss at Mullett Arena.
The Wild made a number of acquisitions at the Trade Deadline, including adding defenseman John Klingberg and - most notably to Blues fans - acquiring Oskar Sundqvist from Detroit. Wednesday night's matchup in St. Louis will be Sundqvist's first time back in St. Louis since being traded to the Red Wings at the 2022 Trade Deadline.
The Wild will visit Enterprise Center with a record of 38-21-8, worth 84 points and second in the Central Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues are 1-1-0 against Minnesota this season, winning their last matchup on Jan. 8 by a score of 3-0 thanks to a shutout by Thomas Greiss. In their last 12 games against the Wild, the Blues are 10-1-1 with a 56-34 goal differential.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, whose assist vs. Vegas on Sunday extended his season-long point streak to nine games. Buchnevich has four goals and 11 assists during this run, coming immediately upon his return from a two-game injury absence on Feb. 23.
WILD Ryan Hartman, who shares the team lead with six assists and 10 points in the current 13-game run. Hartman scored two goals in St. Louis earlier this season and recorded five assists in last year's first-round playoff series.
BLUE NOTES
Craig Berube is set to coach his 500th career NHL game on Wednesday, becoming the sixth individual in League history to play at least 1,000 games and coach at least 500 games. Berube will join Blues Assistant Coach Craig MacTavish on this list, among others... Oskar Sundqvist spent parts of five seasons with the Blues, in which he recorded 83 points in 242 games and logged nine points in 25 playoff games to help the Blues capture the 2019 Stanley Cup... Tyler Pitlick reached 100 points in his NHL career with his goal in the third period on Sunday vs. Vegas... If he records a point on Wednesday, Buchnevich will become the third player in Blues history to post a point streak of at least 10 games in each of his first two seasons with the franchise, joining Brett Hull and Adam Oates. Buchnevich recorded a 12-game point streak last season, the longest of his career.
The Minnesota Wild will try to set a franchise record for consecutive games with a point when they visit the St. Louis Blues Wednesday.
The Wild carry a 13-game point streak (10-0-3) into this game at Enterprise Center. They tied the team mark for longest point streak with their 5-4 overtime loss in Arizona Sunday.
"We're finding ways to get points, and that's huge," Wild forward Mason Shaw said after the game. "Obviously, we wanted to finish with two (points) here tonight, but (the) feeling of this locker room is really good. We've got a good thing going, and we're not going to stop any time soon."
The overtime loss to the Coyotes was the first time Minnesota allowed more than three goals during the streak. Both Filip Gustavsson (17-8-5, 2.01 goals-against average) and Marc-Andre Fleury (21-13-3, 2.77) have been playing well in goal.
But Gustavsson had his worst outing of the year against Arizona by allowing five goals on 23 shots.
"We were loose. We've got to dial it back in a little bit," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Regardless of how well we think we played defensively, we still gave up too many goals. It's awesome that we're scoring some goals, but we got to keep it out of the net."
The Wild have remained on the heels of the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars despite losing star forward Kirill Kaprizov for three to four weeks with a lower-body injury. Mats Zuccarello has helped pick up the slack with two goals and two assists in his last three games.
Minnesota also lost forward Marcus Foligno to a lower-body injury during the Arizona game, and shutdown defender Jonas Brodin has been on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
The retooling Blues snapped a 1-6-2 downturn to defeat the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets and lose to the Vegas Golden Knights in their last three games.
The Blues have integrated newly acquired wingers Jakub Vrana and Kasperi Kapanen and moved past the departure of forwards Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Barbashev before the NHL trade deadline.
"We're in every game. We're right there," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Again, we just gotta keep building and keep trying to get better. Just keep trying to improve. I like the way a lot of guys are playing right now."
Jordan Kyrou has four goals and three assists in his last four games while Pavel Buchnevich has a nine-game point streak with four goals and 11 assists during that span.
"The passion's back," Blues defenseman Torey Krug told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "The energy's there. Guys are competing for spots, and they're not taking it for granted playing in the NHL. These are all things we talked about before.
"It's starting to show up in our game, and obviously we didn't get the result (against Vegas). We've won a few games lately and we've just got to keep rolling with it."
The Wild and Blues split their first two games this season with each team winning on the road. Minnesota won 5-2 on Dec. 31, with Ryan Hartman scoring twice, and St. Louis prevailed 3-0 on Jan. 8 with Thomas Greiss making 35 saves to earn the shutout.
