BLUES A St. Louis Blues win on Saturday would clinch the team's 45th playoff berth and ninth 100-point season in franchise history.
For the second time in eight days, the Blues are riding hot heading into a crucial home-ice matchup with the Minnesota Wild. With the regular season clock ticking down and the teams still knotted together at second place, the stakes have only increased since their last bout.
On April 8, the Blues delivered a highlight-reel finish to a packed crowd at Enterprise Center. In a back-and-forth game that saw the Blues down 3-1 to the Wild four minutes into the third, Justin Faulk and Brayden Schenn rallied to tie the game and force overtime. Robert Thomas - in the midst of an unbelievable stretch of offensive play - found twine for the game winner, the first overtime goal of his young career.
Since that night, the Blues have remained strong. Putting up a staggering 16 goals in three games, the Blues rolled over the New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres to remain unbeaten since an overtime loss on April 1. No team in the NHL has a better record over their last 10 games, and only Colorado matched it with a 9-0-1 record.
Vladimir Tarasenko capped off the team's most recent outing with one of the best games of his career. Recording two assists to go along with his sixth career hat trick, Tarasenko was everywhere in the team's 6-2 win in Buffalo.
The Blues have a chance to pass the Wild for second place in the standings Saturday, which would move them into home-ice advantage with just a handful of games to go - and a likely first-round matchup with Minnesota.
"Looking at the standings, seeing where we are, it looks like we could play Minny (in the playoffs)," said Blues Captain Ryan O'Reilly. "There's still a lot of hockey left, we're just taking it one game at a time. It's going to be an exciting game (on Saturday), a team we could probably see a lot of soon. It's going to be an intense one."
They Blues enter the game with a season record of 44-20-10, good for 98 points and a tie for second in the Central Division.
WILD The Minnesota Wild have been holding a strong pace lately, too, going 7-1-2 in their last 10 games as they try to fight back the Blues' recent surge. After falling in overtime at Enterprise Center last week, the Wild handily beat the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers before a dramatic overtime win over Dallas on Thursday.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury fired a long pass up to Frederick Gaudreau for the game winner, recording his 20th point and tying Jonathan Quick for second-most among active goalies. Fleury also made 34 saves in the winning effort, improving to 5-1-0 with his new team.
Kevin Fiala has been leading the charge for Minnesota this week, scoring two goals and an assist in Dallas, a pair of goals vs. Edmonton and an assist against the Kings.
"We're going to treat (the Blues) like every other team," said Fiala after the game in Dallas. "But, we want to make a statement and come out hard from the start. We know they're a good team at home as well... I'm sure we're going to be ready for it."
Kirill Kaprizov is eyeing a 100-point season as he continues to produce, sitting at 91 so far with nine games remaining in the regular season.
Tied with the Blues at 98 points for second in the Central, Minnesota is working to clinch their own Playoff berth. It would be their second consecutive Playoff appearance and 11th in the club's 21-year history.
They come back to St. Louis with a record of 46-21-6, three wins shy of their franchise-record 49 wins from the 2016-17 season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD Up 2-0 in the season series after a 6-4 win in the Winter Classic and a 4-3 OT thriller last weekend, the Blues have a chance to sweep the season series against the Wild ahead of a likely Playoff battle.
The Blues are 8-0-1 in their last nine games against Minnesota, winning the last six matchups at Enterprise Center.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Vladimir Tarasnko's second goal of the night on Tuesday was his 30th of the season, reaching this mark for the sixth time in his career. Only Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos (7), Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby (9) and Washington's Alex Ovechkin (16) have more 30-goal seasons among active players.
WILD Kevin Fiala has seven points in his last four games, including Minnesota's first goal in St. Louis last week. The 25-year-old forward has 28 goals and 40 assists for a career-high 68 points this season.
BLUE NOTES
The defensive pair of Justin Faulk (+26) and Torey Krug (+20) both rank in the Top 20 in the NHL in home plus/minus rating this season... David Perron reached 25 goals this season on Thursday, now matching his highest mark as a Blue from the 2019-20 season... Pavel Buchnevich is on a career-high eight-game point streak, scoring five goals and nine assists in the process... Tarasenko and Thomas each recorded five points on Thursday, becoming the fourth pair in franchise history to do so in the same game. Brett Hull and Sergio Momesso last accomplished the feat on Oct. 18, 1989.
The battle for second place in the Central Division will escalate Saturday afternoon when the St. Louis Blues host the Minnesota Wild in a matchup of two of the hottest teams in the NHL.
The Wild (46-21-6, 98 points) and Blues (44-20-10, 98 points) head into the game tied for the No. 2 slot, with its home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
Minnesota holds an edge entering the game, having played one fewer game, but the Blues have earned seven more regulation wins, so if the teams wind up tied at the end of the season St. Louis would win the tiebreak nod.
The Blues carry a 10-game point streak (9-0-1) into the home game. That run includes a 4-3 overtime victory over the Wild at home on April 8.
St. Louis also beat the Wild 6-4 in the Winter Classic at Minneapolis on Jan. 1.
But the Wild's late-season roll extends back to mid-March. Minnesota is 12-1-2 in its last 15 games. Since losing the overtime game in St. Louis, the Wild defeated Los Angeles, Edmonton and Dallas.
"They're big games, just like tonight, they're playoff games and especially those teams, there are none of them that just show up to play a fun game," Wild forward Fredrick Gaudreau said Thursday after the 3-2 overtime victory over the Stars. "Everybody is going for the two points. It's just to play in our identity and when we do that, good things can happen."
The Blues have been on an offensive tear, with four or more goals in 10 consecutive games.
The forward line of Robert Thomas centering Vladimir Tarasenko and Pavel Buchnevich has led the way. Thomas has an 11-game point streak with six goals and 17 assists in that span.
"It's pretty cool," said Thomas. "I think the most important thing is getting the team in shape for the playoffs. They're coming right around the corner and every win means so much, especially home ice on the line. That's the main thing."
Tarasenko has eight goals and five assists in his last six games (with a hat trick Thursday in the 6-2 win in Buffalo) and Buchnevich has five goals and nine assists during his eight-game point streak.
Tarasenko has scored 31 goals this season after he battled shoulder injuries the previous two seasons, when he played just 34 games and scored just seven goals.
"He's playing out of his mind," Thomas said. "But we all know Vladi can play like that. We've just got to keep going, and we're going to have to rely on him a lot."
Wild winger Kevin Fiala has a four-game point streak with five goals and two assists, but Minnesota coach Dean Evason is more impressed by his overall play recently.
"He doesn't cheat or hasn't cheated the game the last two," Evason said. "When Kevin gets a little excited to go on offense, that's when he starts cheating a little bit. I think he's recognized that.
"Obviously we've talked to him a lot, but more importantly he's understanding how and when to go and that he's taking care of business and not just trying to score goals, because this time of year you can't do that.
"You can't do that or it ends up in our net and he's done a good job of recognizing that."
