Wild Warmup: Minnesota at St. Louis

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
ST. LOUIS -- Following an overtime victory to start its brief two-game road trip Thursday night in Dallas, the Wild will try and salvage its final game of the regular season against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon at Enterprise Center.
The game marks the third and only remaining game between the Central Division rivals before the end of the regular season, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
Minnesota and St. Louis are currently locked into second and third place in the Central standings, and there remains a strong possibility that these clubs will meet in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs once they commence in just over two weeks.
Whichever of these teams finishes second would host Games 1 and 2 as well as any potential Game 7, which makes Saturday's game crucial for both standings purposes and for momentum.
Both teams stand even at 98 points on the season, but the Wild has presently has the tiebreaker because it has played one fewer game.
Win in regulation on Saturday, and that extra game-in-hand becomes quite the hammer to yield over the final two weeks of the season.
Lose in regulation and all of the sudden, that extra game becomes a must-win.
"They're big games, just like [Thursday], they're playoff games and especially those teams, there are none of them that just show up to play a fun game," said Wild forward Freddy Gaudreau. "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 Wild and Blues met here in St. Louis just over a week ago. Jake Middleton's goal 18 seconds into the third period gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead, but the Blues rallied to tie the game on goals by Justin Faulk and Brayden Schenn before Robert Thomas scored the game-winning goal 1:27 into overtime.
Wild coach Dean Evason said Thursday he was happy with the team's game that night, except for the final result. That's about the only thing he hopes is different about the matchup this time around.
"Just the score, right? It was a real good game," Evason said. "We played a real good game [Thursday in Dallas]. It was still a close game. We came out this time. In St. Louis we didn't. Hopefully we play the exact same way and we come out on the right end."
Evason said the Wild's recent struggles against the Blues means little with a likely collision course in the postseason on the horizon.
St. Louis has won 11 of the past 13 games between the clubs dating back to Oct. 30, 2019, but that stat is a bit misleading. Four of those losses for the Wild have come in overtime and two others were one-goal defeats.
"We want to win every game," said Wild forward Kevin Fiala. "It's a big percentage we gonna play them [in the First Round]. It's a big chance to play against them. So we're gonna treat them like every other team, but obviously, we want to maybe make a statement and then come out hard from the start.
"We know they're a good team at home as well. So come out hard and try to win the game and I'm sure we're gonna be ready for it."
Fiala has been one of the Wild's catalysts during its current three-game winning streak since that loss to the Blues. He scored twice and assisted on the overtime winner versus Dallas on Thursday, one game after he scored two goals in a win over the Edmonton Oilers at Xcel Energy Center.
In all, Fiala has seven points during an active four-game point streak, and his 28 goals on the year have already shattered his previous career high of 23.
Linemate Freddy Gaudreau, who scored his first career overtime winner in Dallas, had a goal and two assists versus the Stars and also had a goal against Edmonton.
Gaudreau has obliterated his previous NHL highs this season, tallying 12 goals and 36 points and is also a plus-10. Four of his 12 goals have been of the game-winning variety.
"There's nights it feels like everything happens the right way, some of the nights you can do all of the good things and it just doesn't happen," Gaudreau said. "Fortunately [on Thursday] it ended up in their net."
Minnesota has had a steady rotation between the posts over the past three weeks. Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding in the victory over Dallas, but if the trend holds, Cam Talbot would get the nod on Saturday.
Talbot made 24 saves in the OT loss here last week, one of just two losses he's experienced since March 3, both of which have come in overtime. Overall, Talbot has earned at least a point in 10 of his past 12 starts, going 10-0-2 during that span.
As of Thursday night, Evason said he didn't have a plan for his goaltenders, although we do know with back-to-back games on the horizon this weekend -- Minnesota will host San Jose on Sunday night back in St. Paul -- both goalies will play.
Minnesota is without Matt Dumba and Jordan Greenway, who are each out with upper-body injuries and are not on the trip. Jon Merrill (upper body) is with the club and could play Saturday, but Evason said it was unlikely.
Nicolas Deslauriers, who had missed the previous two games with a lower-body injury, returned to the lineup in Dallas and came away unscathed.
The Blues enter play Saturday as the hottest team in the NHL following Boston and Buffalo earlier this week.
Not only has St. Louis been piling up points in the standings -- the Blues enter having won seven consecutive games -- they are blowing out teams in the process. The overtime win over Minnesota was the only game during their recent winning streak that was a one-goal game.
Since defeating the Wild, the Blues have outscored their opponents by a 16-5 margin in three wins.
Overall, the Blues have secured at least a point in nine-straight contests, going 8-0-1 during that stretch. Their last regulation loss came on Feb. 26 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
A victory Saturday in any fashion would clinch a playoff spot for St. Louis.
Vladimir Tarasenko leads the Blues in goals (31) and points (72) this season, one point clear of Robert Thomas, who has a team-high 53 assists.
Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou each have 65 points.
Ville Husso and Jordan Binnington have split time this season, with Husso seeing a bulk of the action lately. Husso is 23-6-5 with a 2.37 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage on the season.