NHL: One of the most interesting playoff matchups on the horizon
By Jim Lynch
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a few weeks away as the NHL’s regular-season wraps up. There are a lot of teams that are already locked into the tournament, but very few matchups are set. One battle that does seem to be determined already comes in the Central Division between the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues.
The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues both have 98 points at this point in the season. They have a tough battle to determine who will be the higher-seeded team in their matchup in the playoffs, but really home ice doesn’t mean a heck of a lot when the series starts.
The Blues and Wild have faceoff against each other twice in the playoffs throughout their history – once in 2017 and once in 2015. The Blues won the 2017 series in five games and the Wild won the 2015 series in six games.
Neither of these teams had a lot of hype going into the season, in fact, it was the opposite in St. Louis where the major conversation was revolving around how Vladamir Tarasenko was not going to play with the team. Both rosters have drastically exceeded expectations and one of them is going to get out of the first round.
The Blues and Wild have met twice so far this season with the Blues winning both games, one of their previous matchups was the winter classic this past New Year’s Day.
One thing the Wild have that they hadn’t had in their previous matchups with the Blues is their new goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury could very well be a difference-maker in a playoff series against the Blues.
Oh, one important thing about this matchup. They do meet one more time during the regular season. This Saturday the 16th at 2 PM Central. With a playoff matchup all but secured between these two teams, it definitely is going to be fun to watch this game on Saturday, especially considering the Wild are entering the game on a seven-game win streak!