Wild eliminated due to sputtering power play, little secondary scoring

The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the St. Louis Blues, losing 5-1 in Game 6 of the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round on Thursday.

Minnesota (53-22-7), which set its records for wins (53) and points (113), finished second in the Central Division, four points ahead of St. Louis. The Wild have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in nine of the past 10 seasons but have lost seven straight postseason series dating to a four-game sweep by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round in 2015.

The skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Jordie Benn, D; Nick Bjugstad, F;
Kevin Czuczman
, F; Nicolas Deslauriers, F; Marc-Andre Fleury, G;
Zane McIntyre
, G;
Kyle Rau
, F
Potential restricted free agents:
Mitchell Chaffee
, F; Connor Dewar, F; Kevin Fiala, F; Jake Middleton, D;
Nick Swaney
, F
Potential 2022 Draft picks: 6
Here are five reasons the Wild were eliminated:

1. Un-special teams

Special teams were anything but for the Wild during the regular season, but they overcame it. Not so in the playoffs.
St. Louis scored at least one power-play goal in each game of this series, including two in Game 6, and finished 8-for-26 (30.8 percent), the third most effective power play in the postseason behind the Colorado Avalanche (43.8 percent) and Edmonton Oilers (38.9 percent). The Wild were 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) on the power play in the series after finishing 18th in the NHL (20.5 percent) during the regular season.
"They literally [stunk] all year," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "We had stretches, but you can't not score. Obviously we just got beat by a team [where] their special teams were way, way better than ours."

2. Lack of scoring depth

The Wild had six players score at least 20 goals during the regular season. In this series, they scored 16 goals in six games; forward Kirill Kaprizov (seven) and center Joel Eriksson Ek (three) accounted for 10 of them.
No other player scored more than one goal.
After scoring 11 goals in Games 2 and 3 against St. Louis goalie Ville Husso, Minnesota managed five goals in the final three games against Jordan Binnington, who made his series debut in Game 4.
RELATED: [Complete Wild vs. Blues series coverage]

3. Average goaltending

The Wild goaltending was not bad, per se, but it did not steal a game in the series.
Marc-Andre Fleury, acquired in a trade with the Blackhawks on March 21 for his vast playoff experience (he has won the Stanley Cup three times and played in the Cup Final five times), was average in his five starts, going 2-3 with a 3.04 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.
Cam Talbot, the No. 1 before Fleury arrived, played in Game 5 and allowed four goals on 26 shots in a 5-2 loss.
The Wild, who allowed 3.04 goals per game during the regular season, gave up at least four goals in each of their four losses to the Blues and allowed five goals each in Games 4, 5 and 6, all losses.

4. Slow to adjust

St. Louis made two major adjustments in the series, and Minnesota had trouble countering each.
Because of a spate of injuries on the blue line early in the series, the Blues went to a lineup that featured 11 forwards and seven defensemen. The switch spread out the workload on defense and allowed coach Craig Berube to rotate his many skilled forwards onto the fourth line and present matchup problems for the Wild.
When St. Louis switched to Binnington in goal, the complexion of the series changed. In Games 2 and 3, a ferocious Minnesota forecheck helped fuel one-sided wins. But Binnington's ability to play the puck and start the transition game for the Blues took the teeth out of the Wild forecheck in the final three games and short-circuited their high-powered offense.

5. Bad draw

Minnesota did not get much of a reward for its record-setting season regular season, drawing the one team that was nearly as hot as it was down the stretch and has traditionally given it fits.
The Wild went 17-2-3 following the NHL Trade Deadline on March 21 and had the best points percentage (.841) in the NHL. The Blues were fourth during that stretch, going 15-4-2 (.762).
The two teams have played 18 regular-season games since the start of the 2018-19 season. The Blues are 13-3-2, having outscored the Wild 69-46.