The St. Louis Blues are just hours from beginning another chase for the greatest prize in all of professional hockey—the Stanley Cup.
The Story So Far
The Bluenotes take on a divisional rival in the Minnesota Wild and the series is expected to be a physical one right out of the gate. The Blues swept the season series with the Wild 3-0, two of those games concluded in overtime including the final game April 16.
Brayden Schenn would be the hero for the Blues then as St. Louis would pick up the win, 6-5.
Since then, the Blues failed to earn home ice advantage against the Wild, dropping the last game of the regular season to the Vegas Golden Knights.
After falling short on April 16, Minnesota went on to win five games in a row and ultimately took back its spot in the standing above the Blues on the last day of the season. The Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 and finished with 113 points to St. Louis’ 109.
That home ice advantage could be a factor as the Wild were 31-8-2 during the regular season.
One To Watch
Blues broadcaster Darren Pang joined Mike Claiborne for KMOX’s Sports on a Sunday Morning May 1. Listen to the full interview at the top of this page. During the conversation, one player stood out to Pang: Pavel Buchnevich.
Buchnevich came to the Blues from the eastern conference in July 2021, fresh off time with the New York Rangers. an NHL career-high 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) last season.
“You end up asking anybody around the east and talking about Buchnevich and they raved about his two way game and that he was a terrific penalty killer and that 17 of his 20 goals were at even strength,” Pang said.
“So that tells you a lot that he wasn't just getting, you know, his candy on the powerplay in the easy situations. He was getting it in the hard situations and he became a good penalty killer, exactly what the Blues needed—big winger that can skate and that can be on the PK…,” Pang continued.
For the Blues though, it could come down to more than Buchnevich as the team has nine 20-goal scorers.
There is one member of the Wild the Blues and head coach Craig Berube definitely have their eye on, Kirill Kaprizov, last season’s NHL rookie of the year.
Kaprizov recently earned a team record 108 points (47 goals, 61 assists). He led the team with those 47 goals, was fifth in the NHL overall and made franchise history by being the first player to reach the 100-point mark.
“His strength and his skating and his shot is pretty incredible, all three of them. Then it boils down to he just has a mindset of he's gonna’ beat you one-on-one and he's highly competitive. That's what, for me, what separates guys like him and you know the star players and people like that is just competitiveness,” Berube told reporters recently.
Final Notes
The Wild will need a strong effort from the penalty kill. Going back to the May 1 Sports On A Sunday Morning, Pang discussed final regular season games being decided by three-on-three play or shootouts rather than full-strength.
“It's determined by five-on-five hockey, determined by very important matchups and not some kind of all star skills competition. So this is really where the big boys put on the boots and get ‘er going and grind ‘er out and I thought this series is one of those series I mean, it can go seven games and then overtime and I don't think any of us would be surprised,” Pang said.
For the Blues, the biggest factor could be how well netminder Ville Husso does in his first playoff run.
In 40 regular season games, including 38 starts, Husso amassed a 25-7-6 record. He faced 1,236 shots against, totaled a goals against average of 2.56 and a save percentage of .919.
Game time is set for 8:30 p.m. central time.
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