Minnesota Wild

With all due respect to Nashville, they were outclassed in the first round, and the post-game quotes from their two defensive stalwarts demonstrate that they ...

The Blues are better equipped to drag the Avs into a style they are not used to playing, but the Wild have the skill and scoring ability to meet the Avs on their own terms. I tend to think that the Blues are a better match-up for the Avs, as they are a bit slower than the Wild and would not be able to keep up with a track meet should the Avs impose their will on the series. Add in the fact that the Wild have the most talented offensive player between the two teams in Kirill Kaprizov, and those two alone could be enough to swing an series against the Wild in favor of the underdog. By mucking up the neutral zone and playing a heavy, overly physical game in all three zones, it forced the Avs to not only play at a slower pace but to get away from what makes them so dangerous: entering the offensive zone with puck possession and speed. Not knowing who will be playing the game’s most important position on a night-to-night basis is not conducive to the consistency needed to succeed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let’s start with the easiest case to make.

The St. Louis Blues host the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL Playoffs with a 3-2 lead in the series.

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Blues host the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL Playoffs with a 3-2 lead in the series. The teams meet Tuesday for the sixth time this season. Mats Zuccarello has 24 goals and 55 assists for the Wild. Kirill Kaprizov has 10 goals and nine assists over the past 10 games. Minnesota is 53-22-7 overall and 11-9-3 against the Central Division. The Wild have allowed 249 goals while scoring 305 for a +56 scoring differential. St. Louis has gone 49-22-11 overall with a 16-5-3 record against the Central Division. The Blues have given up 239 goals while scoring 309 for a +70 scoring differential. St. Louis Blues (49-22-11, third in the Central Division)

Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov (97) scored twice on Tuesday in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, but the Wild blew a ...

His three Stanley Cups and 90-plus postseason wins will someday land him in the Hall of Fame, but that all means nothing at the moment, as the Wild stare down elimination in Thursday’s Game 6, which happens to be on the Blues’ home ice. There are no other Kirill Kaprizovs on this roster — there aren’t many like him in the world — but Minnesota could use Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello to resemble the players they were for the past seven months. They could use the heavy GREEF line of Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno to play the way they played for most of this season and the first three games of this series. “He’s unbelievable, right?” Wild coach Dean Evason said of Kaprizov, the 25-year-old Russian who has 161 points in 137 career games, including the postseason. The Minnesota Wild have been a franchise for more than two decades. There were two of them and they couldn’t do it by themselves.

When everyone — players, coaches, media, fans, and us here at 10KRinks.com — glowingly spoke about what made this Minnesota Wild team different, it all.

But the Wild have failed to prove that their resiliency translates to the playoffs so far. A bad break for Minnesota? Sure. But the Wild didn’t respond to the adversity, promptly surrendering a goal on the ensuing Blues power play. Minnesota failed to capitalize in either way, and St. Louis dictated the play for much of the night. There’s still time for the Wild to dig deep and take this series. The hard-working Wild are being called out by their coach on their effort. The Wild solved Ville Husso in the previous two games, forcing the Blues to turn to Jordan Binnington, the goalie who limped into the postseason with a .901 save percentage. Kaprizov, the only Wild player who manifested that trademark resiliency, was able to respond with a super-human effort. Sure, Minnesota showed a little of their bounce-back ability, taking Games 2 and 3 to go ahead 2-1 in the series. The Blues finished the season with the NHL’s ninth-best record and the fourth-best in the Western Conference. Despite this, funky playoff rules dictated a match-up with the NHL’s fifth-best team in Round 1. A magical season, potentially on the brink after two home playoff losses to the St. Louis Blues. The Blues made quick work of them in a 4-0 shutout. A rash of injuries hit the team?