The St. Louis Blues will be looking to extend their winning streak to five when they take on the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The Blues defeated the Wild in Minnesota twice this week already, including a 5-4 victory in overtime on Thursday.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this West Division battle at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota is the favorite at -147. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts St. Louis at +125 as the underdog.
St. Louis will be a little thin on the blue line as Vince Dunn and Carl Gunnarsson are out and Colton Parayko is listed as questionable. Also listed as questionable is Vladimir Tarasenko. Minnesota will be without centers Nick Bjugstad and Marco Rossi.
O’Reilly Wins It for Blues in OT
Ryan O’Reilly scored his second goal of the game 3:43 into overtime to give St. Louis a 5-4 victory over Minnesota. Torey Krug and Jordan Kyrou each added a couple of assists for the victorious Blues. Ville Husso stopped 26 of 30 shots for the victory.
St. Louis is averaging 2.96 goals per game, 13th overall, and they are 11th in shooting percentage at 10.0%. The Blues are eighth on the power-play at 22.3%. David Perron leads the team in scoring with 34 assists and 48 points. The two goals by O’Reilly now give him 22, which leads St. Louis, and he is second on the team with 47 points.
The Blues are 21st in goals allowed per game at 3.08 and are 28th in penalty killing at 75.7%. Jordan Binnington will be in the net on Saturday. He is 15-14-5 with a 2.69 GAA and a .909 save percentage. Binnington has allowed at least three goals in five of his last six starts.
Blues End Wild Hot Streak
Minnesota had won seven games in a row entering the three-game series against St. Louis but now have lost four straight games to the Blues. Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists in the loss on Thursday. Cam Talbot gave up five goals on 21 shots.
Minnesota is 10th in goals per game at 3.20 and is second in shooting percentage of 11.4%. The Wild are 23rd on the power-play at 18.4%. Rookie Kirill Kaprizov is the team leader in points with 42 and also leads Minnesota in goals with 23. Jordan Greenway is the team leader in assists with 24 and is third in points with 30.
The Wild are 10th in goals allowed per game at 2.67 and are ninth in penalty killing it 82.4%. Talbot will likely be back in net again on Saturday. He is 17-7-4 with a 2.48 GAA and a .920 save percentage. He has allowed nine total goals in his last two starts.
Trends:
St. Louis:
- 4-0 in their last four games.
- 5-0 in their last five games when playing on one day’s rest.
Minnesota:
- None
It has seemed that since Minnesota clinched a playoff spot that they have taken their foot off the gas a bit. Plus, they have not played very well against the Blues of late. This is a St. Louis team playing with a lot of momentum and fire as they are trying to clinch that final spot in the West Division. I look for them to pull off a third straight victory over Minnesota and a fifth straight victory overall.
Pick: Take St. Louis at +125.
The Total:
These teams have gone under in seven of the last nine meetings and have gone under in four of the last five meetings in Minnesota. However, seven goals were scored on Wednesday, and nine were scored on Thursday. Right now goaltending has not been as solid as we are accustomed to when these teams face each other, so I will go with the over here.
Pick: Go over 5.5 at -105.