Wild first round matchup preview!

The Wild are warming up for this intense series!

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Wild first round matchup preview!
Keystone press agency

The NHL regular season is over, the Stanley Cup playoffs are about to begin, and the Minnesota Wild are ready.

The Wild will be facing the St. Louis Blues in the opening round, a Central Division rivalry series in which the Wild have home ice advantage. Minnesota finished the season with four consecutive wins, a much-needed hot streak after a lukewarm run post-trade deadline. The Wild secured second place in the Central Division with 106 points and a 49-25-8 record.

The Blues also ended the season hot, which was a requirement if they were going to make the playoffs at all after a sour start to the season. Deadline selling, a coaching change, and hot goaltender propelled the Blues into third place in the Central Division with 99 points and a 46-29-7 record.

The series schedule between the Wild and Blues is as follow: 

Game 1 - Wed., April 12 in Minnesota, starts at 9:30 p.m. ET 

Game 2 - Fri., April 14 St. Louis in Minnesota, starts at  8 p.m. ET 

Game 3 - Sun., April 16 Minnesota in St. Louis, starts at  3 p.m. ET 

Game 4 - Wed., April 19 Minnesota in St. Louis, starts at  9:30 p.m. ET 

Game 5 - Sat., April 22 St. Louis in Minnesota, *if necessary 

Game 6 - Mon., April 24 Minnesota in St. Louis, *if necessary 

Game 7 - Wed., April 26 St. Louis in Minnesota, *if necessary

During the regular season, the Wild faced the Blues five times, and if those games are any indication of how the series will go, it should be a close one. The Wild won two games against St. Louis, lost two, but managed to secure a point in an overtime loss.

Taking a closer look at team statistics only seems to confirm a nail-biting series in on the way: The Wild was the higher scoring team, and had less goals allowed than the Blues during the regular season. The Blues have better special-teams numbers, and have had a hotter run coming into the post-season.

The Wild need to hang on to the consistency that won them the last four games of the regular season, and propelled them to the top of the league standings earlier this season. Head Coach Bruce Boudreau has righted the ship to end season, now it’s time to steer the Wild to playoff victory!


Source: NHL.com