If the postseason started today, the St. Louis Blues would be going up against the Minnesota Wild in the opening round.
There figures to be a playoff-like atmosphere inside Xcel Energy Center as the Central Division rivals square off for the second time in a week Saturday.
St. Louis (45-20-6) is atop the Central with 96 points, 11 ahead of a Wild team clinging to the Western Conference's first wild-card spot. However, nobody has compiled a better record since Jan. 27 than Minnesota, which has gone 19-5-1 and allowed an average of 1.64 goals in that span.
The Wild (39-25-7) have picked up three of a possible four points against the Blues after winning 3-1 at St. Louis last Saturday. Devan Dubnyk stopped a season-high 41 shots that night as Minnesota earned its seventh of what has become a franchise-record eight consecutive road victories.
While they've thrived away from home, the Wild are 2-4-0 over their last six on their own ice. They're hoping to avoid a third consecutive loss there after falling 2-1 to Washington on Thursday.
"We're always dangerous at home, we're overwhelming here," said Dubnyk, whose team is now 19-11-5 in Minnesota. "We'll continue to work and tweak some things to make sure that this continues to be a tough place to play."
"I find that in a lot of these games we're making one big mistake or there's a couple breakdowns that we're making that we haven't been making on the road lately," coach Mike Yeo said. "This is hockey at this time of year. We're not that far off, and we'll try to bounce back in the next one."
The Blues are also looking to regroup following Thursday's 2-1 shootout loss at Winnipeg. David Backes provided the offense as St. Louis went 0 for 3 on the power play, dropping to 5-1-1 in its last seven.
"I said it before the game, it's playoff-style games, close games, one-goal games," Backes said. "I don't think either team is terribly disappointed, but we needed two points, and we let it slide."
Brian Elliott, who finished with 33 saves, is 6-2-1 with a 1.41 goals-against average and two shutouts over a nine-start stretch. He stopped just 16 shots against the Wild last weekend, dropping to 6-1-0 with a 1.94 GAA versus Minnesota.
That game marked Dubnyk's first victory in eight career starts versus St. Louis, against whom he has a 4.22 GAA.
"For some reason, it didn't seem to matter how good I felt in a game against these guys, it always seemed to end up 4-1 or 5-1 by the end of the game," he said afterward. "It's nice to get out there with a different team and get one tonight so I can stop thinking about it."
Despite last Saturday's defeat, the Blues are 10-2-0 over their last 12 against the Wild, winning five of six in Minnesota. St. Louis forward Alexander Steen has 10 points over a 10-game stretch in the series.
Zach Parise leads the Wild with 55 points, but he's been held to three in his last eight games against St. Louis.
The Blues have limited opponents to 1.88 goals per game during a 12-2-2 stretch away from home.
Road Trip Grinds On Saturday in St. Paul
Friday, 03.20.2015 / 11:15 PM
By Chris Pinkert - St. Louis Blues / Blues Overtime Blog
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ST. PAUL - It seems every team the Blues have met lately has been either fighting to keep a playoff spot or battling to improve upon their position.
That certainly isn’t making anything easy on the Blues, who aren’t necessarily worried about keeping a playoff spot but instead want the highest seed possible.
“A lot of these teams are desperate to get two points and stay in the race,” said Blues captain David Backes. “We need those two points just as bad as they do because we’re trying to win a Presidents’ Trophy, win a first seed and try to get a home-ice playoff series. They’re difficult. It’s a great challenge, a great measuring stick for where we’re at. It’s playoff-style hockey when it’s do or tie for these teams.”
“I had a chance to look at our schedule and see who we were playing against in these last 10 games or so, and everybody is right in the mix,” said Blues goalie Brian Elliott. “Everybody is playing for their lives, playing for their position. Like (today against Minnesota), two games against Chicago - it’s really going to write the story on how the season’s going to end and where you are in the playoffs.”
As the Blues prepare to face the Wild today (1 p.m., FSMW, KMOX), the team hopes to write a different ending than the one it wrote exactly one week ago. In that game, the Blues surrendered two goals in a 17-second span and fell 3-1 to the Wild at Scottrade Center despite outshooting Minnesota 42-19.
The Wild have won two of their last three games, including that 3-1 victory in St. Louis, but fell 3-2 to the Washington Capitals at home on Thursday. Despite the loss, the Wild own the top Wild Card position in the West with 85 points (39-25-7).
“We need to play a similar game (as last week), just bury our chances when we create them and we’ll like the end result,” Backes said. “We had a solid 60 minutes, had a lapse for a few and then they capitalized. That’s been our crux - having little lapses where other teams have capitalized. We’ve got to eliminate that.”
CENTRAL DIVISION UPDATE
1. St. Louis - 71 GP, 45-20-6, 96 PTS
2. Nashville - 72 GP, 43-21-8, 94 PTS
3. Chicago - 70 GP, 43-21-6, 92 PTS
BLUE NOTES
The Blues have won three of the last four on the road and have collected points in nine of the last 10 road games (7-1-2). Including today’s game, the club has three games left on its season-high six-game road trip (Minnesota, Detroit and Pittsburgh).
The penalty kill has denied 15 consecutive opportunities over the last five games. In March, the penalty kill has stopped 29 of 30 chances, good for a 96.6 percent success rate. Only the Islanders are better, killing 21 of 21 chances.
Paul Stastny’s next point will be the 500th of his career. Against the Wild, Stastny has 10 goals and 20 assists (30 points) in 49 career games.
The Blues have won five of their last six trips to Xcel Energy Center (5-1-0) thanks in part to a penalty killing effort that has given the Wild just one goal on their last 23 attempts.
Brian Elliott will start today against the Wild. Jake Allen will start Sunday in Detroit.
