St. Louis Blues play host to the Minnesota Wild - NHL Previews
St. Louis Blues will be hosting the Minnesota Wild in the first of two games scheduled to take place on alternative days. This is the first of the four meetings between the two sides with the second game taking place tomorrow.
Both teams are looking for a play-off spot with Minnesota Wild just two points behind the last play-off position which is occupied by the Calgary Flames. On the other hand, St. Louis Blue have quite a distance to cover as they are seven points behind the
Calgary Flames and need to win the game in regulation time if they are to continue their struggle of finishing in the play-off spot.
Minnesota Wild came up with an expected win against the Anaheim Ducks this Wednesday. They came up with an absolutely gem of performance. They not only came out strong on offence but were very solid at the back winning the game 3-2 in the end. Though the
Wild were on the back foot for most of the game but scored within time to secure the victory.
The goalkeeper of the Minnesota Wild came up with a decent performance as well and blocked shots every now and then. Niklas Backstorm, goal keeper of the Wild came up with one of the best performance of his NHL career as he made 23 crucial saves during the
course game. John Madden, forward of the Minnesota Wild scored the winning goal in the second period.
"When a goalie looks calm and controlled, he looks like he's on top of his game," coach Todd Richards said. "I think Nik has a confidence now with the guys in front of him, and without question the guys in front of him have a confidence in Nik."
Minnesota Wild has played 53 games in the season so far out of which they have won 28 games in regulation time, 5 games in overtime and scored 61 points. Minnesota is in the ninth spot and a win here would surely help them to get into the last play-off position.
St. Louis Blues have played 52 games in the season so far out of which they have won 24 games in regulation time, 8 games in overtime and scored 56 points.
St. Louis Blues are currently struggling in the league as they suffered quite a few losses in the last few games. St. Louis Blue has lost 11 of the 15 games played. However, the last game that they played against the Florida Panthers saw them emerging as
2-1 winners of the game this Tuesday.
Though the Blue trailed 1-0 at the end of the first period but they managed to crawl their way back into the game and won it in the end. David Backes and Matt D’Agostini were among the goal scorers that guided the Blue to the win.
"We finally put together a full 60 minutes and got rewarded for it," Backes said. "It took us a while but our goalie is good enough to keep us in games when we haven't been up to snuff."
The game comes with the Minnesota Wild having a very strong chance of winning the game and with a margin of two or more goals.
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