Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. St. Louis

The essentials

The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
Minnesota will look to bounce back on Thursday night when it faces the St. Louis Blues for the second consecutive night.
The Wild suffered a 4-3 defeat to the Blues on Wednesday night after holding a two-goal lead heading into the third period, snapping the Wild's seven-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, Minnesota has been outstanding on home ice this season, and are 16-2-0 in its last 18 games at Xcel Energy Center, outscoring opponents 63-32 since Jan. 31.
Minnesota sits in third place in the West Division with 65 points, trailing the second place Colorado Avalanche by one point.
The Blues are currently holding on to the last playoff spot in the division, with 50 points, leading Arizona by three points. The Blues also have two games in-hand on Arizona.
Thursday night will be the second of three straight games where Minnesota hosts St. Louis. Minnesota is 1-2-1 against St. Louis this season.
On Wednesday, Jonas Brodin opened the scoring 17:47 into the first period, ripping a slap shot past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington.
The goal was Brodin's seventh goal of the season, his most in a season since he scored eight goals in 2013-2014.
Minnesota opened the second period with high energy, first with Jordan Binnington stopping a Victor Rask shot 25 seconds into the period, forcing a faceoff in the Blues zone.
St. Louis won the face-off, but Jordan Greenway was the first to the puck behind the Blues net. Greenway threw the puck toward the net and the rebound fell on Joel Eriksson Ek's stick as he gave the Wild a 2-0 lead 32 seconds into the middle frame.
It was Greenway's second assist of the night, and his team leading 24th helper of the season.
A Kevin Fiala penalty midway through the second period, gave the Blues its first chance of the night on the power play and it did not take long for them to get on the board. Mike Hoffman scored eight seconds into the power play, to cut the lead to 2-1. It was the eighth straight game the Blues scored with the man-advantage.
Minnesota responded quickly, regaining a two-goal lead a minute later, with Marcus Foligno tallying his eighth goal of the season 11:29 into the second period.
Matt Dumba made a phenomenal along the boards that left Blues forward Brayden Schenn on the floor, before finding Foligno. Foligno's wrist shot found the back of the net with the help of a Zach Parise screen on Binnington.
Foligno has now recorded points in five of the last six games.
St. Louis got its second power play opportunity of the game early in the third period after a Matt Dumba penalty, and the result was exactly the same as the first, a Mike Hoffman power play goal, to cut the Blues deficit to 3-2.
Jordan Kyrou tied the game 7:41 into the third period, beating Cam Talbot after a turnover in the Wild zone. And Robert Thomas was the hero for the Blues on the night, scoring the game-winning goal with 23 seconds left in regulation.
"Just got taught a lesson," Wild forward Marcus Foligno said. "I mean, that team doesn't quit. We just kinda get complacent and leave our tendy out to dry. It's a crappy feeling, especially the way you lose with 20-something seconds left on the clock. Yeah, we didn't do the little things right. They did the little things right. You just like to see a better effort from us in the third. We just gotta make sure that we forget about this one and come back angry and hungry tomorrow."
It will likely be Kaapo Kahkonen in goal for Minnesota. The rookie goaltender is 14-7-0 in 21 games this season, with a 2.68 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
Ryan O'Reilly leads the Blues with 20 goals this season, while David Perron leads the team with 33 assists and 47 points. O'Reilly has tallied four goals and one assist in four games vs. Minnesota this season.
With every game down the stretch vital to the Blues playoff hopes, Jordan Binnington could be the man in net again on Thursday. He has a 15-14-5 record this season, with a 2.69 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.