With the game being on TNT, the overflow channels for when the games overlap are TruTV and CNN HLN. Not sure which will be used. Just check at 830 when the game is supposed to start on TNT.
Although the two games in Minnesota ended in different ways, the St. Louis Blues accomplished what they set out to: split the series-opening games in Wild territory.
"You come here, get a split and go home. You're satisfied with that," said Blues Head Coach Craig Berube after the 6-2 loss Wednesday night. "In our minds, I think we came out to win two and had a real good start to the game. It is what it is… it's going to be a long series and you've got to battle and stay with it."
By the end of the game, the Blues were playing without three of their Top 6 defensemen - Nick Leddy, considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury; Marco Scandella, who has been out with a lower-body injury for the April 29 regular-season finale as well as Games 1 and 2; and Robert Bortuzzo, who exited Game 2 at the end of the first period with an upper-body injury. The team recalled Steven Santini from Springfield on Thursday to help shore up the blue line should the absences continue.
After facing adversity through injuries and unfortunate breaks - including Bortuzzo's stick splitting apart seconds before the Wild scored their first goal - the Blues will welcome the energetic crowd at Enterprise Center when they return home for Games 3 and 4 this weekend.
The home/away performance disparity between the Blues and the Wild is important to monitor as the series shifts locations. During the regular season, the Wild ranked fourth in the NHL with a home-ice record of 31-8-2, but on the road their 22-14-5 record placed them 13th. The Blues were more consistent across buildings this season, ranking 10th at home and eighth on the road.
Game 3 is Friday night at 8:30 p.m. CT.
NOTEWORTHY STATS
-When a best-of-7 series is tied 1-1, the winner of Game 3 holds an all-time series record of 228-110 (.675).
-Earlier this season, the Blues put together a 13-game point streak (12-0-1) on home ice at Enterprise Center, the third-longest in franchise history.
-With Craig Berube as head coach, the Blues are 7-0 against Minnesota at Enterprise Center, outscoring the Wild 35-15 in those games.
THEY SAID IT
"You've got to be happy with one (win) in this building, especially against a team like that. We're happy with that, now we've got to go home and bring it." - Robert Thomas after Game 2
"Overall, last game things just weren't going our way. Today they did, and we scored some very opportune goals at the right time" - Kirill Kaprizov (via Russian translator) after his hat trick in Game 2.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues hold a series record of 6-8 (.429) all-time when they are tied 1-1 starting on the road (14-19, .424 overall)... Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 36th career postseason goal in Game 2, moving him into sole possession of second-most in franchise history (1. Brett Hull, 67)... The Blues power play ranked second in the NHL this season at 27 percent - a franchise record - while the Wild's penalty kill ranked 25th at 76.1 percent... Jordan Kyrou's goal in Game 2 was his second career postseason goal and first career postseason power-play goal.
The St. Louis Blues could face a defensive crisis when they continue their first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild Friday on home ice.
The Blues are dealing with multiple issues on their blue line. Marco Scandella missed the first two games of the series with a lower-body injury and Scott Perunovich has not appeared in a game since January after wrist surgery.
Nick Leddy suffered an upper-body injury Monday while absorbing a hard check into the boards in the Blues' 4-0 victory. Robert Bortuzzo left Game 2 after blocking a shot with the side of his head during the Wild's 6-2 win Wednesday.
Niko Mikkola moved into the starting lineup with Scandella out and Calle Rosen joined the lineup in Game 2 to replace Leddy.
"That's playoffs," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "There's injuries, things happen. You've got to just battle, you've got to get different guys in there to do the job."
With the series tied 1-1, the Blues recalled Steven Santini from Springfield of the AHL for Game 3 at Enterprise Center.
"We've got to get a guy in just to be ready," Berube said. "We need to make sure."
The team didn't practice Thursday, but both Scandella and Perunovich took the ice for individual work. Berube didn't offer an update on Scandella, Leddy or Bortuzzo when he met with reporters.
"I haven't seen everybody," he said. "I really don't have an answer for you there."
So Berube couldn't hazard a guess on his Game 3 lineup. "We've got to see how guys are," he said. "Day to day to rest and see how they feel tomorrow. Then we'll go from there."
The Blues will face a big challenge in Game 3 after their Wild got their offense rolling in Game 2. Minnesota converted 2 of 3 power-play opportunities and exploited St. Louis' turnovers with their even-strength forecheck.
Winger Kirill Kaprizov led the charge while scoring three goals.
"I don't feel the pressure," Kaprizov said via a translator after Game 2. "It's just up to me and all the players to score goals, and had we scored those goals in the first game, obviously it would be different. But overall, I think the team did that today. We were able to score the goals when we needed to, and so we all take the onus on ourselves to be better and focus on the next game."
With the series shifting to St. Louis, the Blues will have an opportunity to match lines and defensive pairings against Kaprizov with the last player change.
"He's just going to do what he does," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "He's just going to play hard. Sure, he's got two, three people around him. They're trying to hit him. He's just going to play through it. He just stays the course, just goes about his business.
"It shouldn't surprise, his response when teams play him that hard and, well, that he takes it as a big challenge. He did tonight and had a great game."
The Wild went 4-for-5 with their penalty kill Wednesday and blocked 20 shots overall while maintaining control of Game 2.
"We took a lot of heat for our special teams, right, and they were real good obviously tonight," Evason said.
