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Gotta Win 1 First

April 19, 2017, 7:58 AM ET [48 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wild Game Day
2016-17 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Round 1 Game 4

Series: Blues Lead (3-0)
Game 1: 4/12 Blues 2 @ Wild 1 (OT)
Game 2: 4/14 Blues 2 @ Wild 1
Game 3: 4/16 Wild 1 @ Blues 3
Game 4: 4/19 Wednesday @ St. Louis 8:30PM
Game 5: 4/22 Saturday @ Minnesota TBA (will be necessary)
Game 6: 4/24 Monday @ St. Louis TBA (if necessary)
Game 7: 4/26 Wednesday @ Minnesota TBA (if necessary)

Wild Regular Season Record (49-25-8 106 pts) 2nd Place Central Division, 2nd Place Western Conference
Home Record (27-12-2)
Road Record (22-13-6)

St. Louis Blues Regular Season Record (46-29-7 99 pts) 3rd Place Central Division, 5th Place Western Conference
Home Record (24-12-5)
Road Record (22-17-2)

All-Time Record: Wild vs Blues
vs. St. Louis Blues 33-34-5
@ Home 21-14-2
@ St. Louis 12-20-3

All Time Playoff Record: Wild vs Blues
2015 Wild 4-2


Opponent: St. Louis Blues (32-27-5 69 pts)
Road Record (14-16-1)

Site: Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO

Time: 8:30PM CT

TV: Fox Sports North (FSN), NBC Sports (NBCSN)

Regular Season Results:
10/13 Wild 2 @ Blues 3
11/26 Wild 3 @ Blues 4 (SO)
12/11 Blues 1 @ Wild 3
1/26 Blues 1 @ Wild 5
3/7 Blues 2 @ Wild 1

Must win is now the operative phrase to describe the Wild predicament. The 0-3 hole is a deep one to climb out of for sure, but not impossible. Last year the Wild almost clawed their way back into the series versus the Stars in a matchup that they were clearly the weaker team by far. This year is a bit different but the odds about the same.

Games 1, 2, and 3 have all followed similar scripts and all resulted in the Wild skating off shaking their heads. The bottom line is in order for the Wild to change their fortunes, they must generate much higher percentage scoring opportunities for themselves.

St. Louis is playing the Mike Yeo "rope a dope" system to a tee, which has the Wild frustrated at every turn. That can change and must in order for the Wild to bring the series back to St. Paul.

Anyone who has watched the first three games must absolutely give credit to the Blues, but still look at this objectively and say the better team is on the losing end in all three games. That happens, we all know that. We also know that eventually the cream rises to the top as well. The Wild have shown us brilliance for much of the season, so we know it is there.

The Blues have also shown their worst along with Jake Allen, they struggled mightily leading up to the coaching change. So they too are capable of having the wheels fall off just as they caught lightning in a bottle.

Nothing is a foregone conclusion and the fourth win in a seven game series is always the toughest to get.

The Blues have scored 6 goals plus and empty netter in three games, with one needing OT to settle. So how again is this Devan Dubnyk's fault?

Much of the blame is being placed on Bruce Boudreau and his numerous playoff failures. And Chuck Fletcher is being roasted over his deadline acquisitions of Martin Hanzal and Ryan White.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are all about matchups and timing. In order to win you need your team to be playing well and you need to get timely scoring from unexpected sources. Strong goaltending and most of all good fortune and some good old fashioned puck luck.

The Blues have had all of the puck luck thus far in this series, beginning in game one where the first Blues goal caromed in off Christian Folin, when Dubnyk was in position to make the save. Vladimir Tarasenko lost control of the puck as he was going to the net in OT and the puck squirts free to Joel Edmundson who has a gaping 4X6 to fire home the winner.

Not taking anything away from the Blues, but just stating a point. The Blues goals in games two and three were also deflections, with the exception of Jaden Schwartz's powerplay wrap around in game three.

The Wild missed two of their own wrap around attempts in game three, the first by Jason Zucker who could not get the puck all the way around the post and then later in the third when Eric Staal did almost the same thing. Martin Hanzzal had a brilliant chance that he also put into the post from in tight. None of these plays did Jake Allen do anything to thwart the Wild scoring opportunity. Just not the Wild's night.

So if you are one that just looks at it and says oh the Blues won all three and that is the defining factor, then yep the Wild should just not even bother showing up, because you all have the answers.

Not so fast! This Wild team has more to give and they know that they can still win this series and the Blues are not an elite team by any stretch of the imagination. There is nothing particularly special about them, and they play a very vanilla style game. If the Wild want to win the series, they need to turn up the speed game and get more pucks and bodies to the middle of the ice.

They also need to stop dumping the puck into Jake Allen, which I wrote about following game one.

The leadership needs to step up, and in a very big way too. I will put Ryan Suter on the spot and say that if their is one guy who has not pulled his weight in this series it is clearly #20. From the bad penalties to the poor puck decisions in the offensive zone, to the huge gaffe leading to the shorthanded breakaway by Kyle Brodziak, and the ill timed pinches in the offensive zone, Suter has looked very pedestrian for the highly paid All-Star and leader that he is supposed to be.

Suter is the leader and anchor of the Wild defense, he must raise his game and if he is the leader the team expects him to be, he needs to also raise the level of those around him. The playoffs are where names are made, and Suter has the opportunity to help the Wild work their way into the NHL history books.

Must win to keep the Wild season alive, Let's Go Wild!

It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!

Let's Play Hockey!


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