Special Teams Already an Advantage for Blues Against Wild

The St. Louis Blues are already cashing in on a major advantage in their first-round series against the Minnesota Wild.

St. Louis entered this highly-anticipated Western Conference First Round matchup with one obvious edge: special teams. The Blues boasted top-five units on both the power play and penalty kill during the regular season, while Minnesota struggled at times in both facets.

As a result, St. Louis has a leg up on its Central Division rival, and it wasted little time taking advantage of that.

David Perron was the biggest difference-maker on the power play, as two of his three goals were scored with the man advantage. His first goal of the evening, though not technically a power play goal, was set up by a Minnesota penalty, as he scored one second after the advantage came to an end.

The Blues used their special teams edge to control Game 1.

Overall, the Blues scored on two of their six power play chances, though as noted above, there were essentially three goals that were products of St. Louis’ lethal five-on-four play.

On the penalty kill, St. Louis was perfect, killing off all six of the penalties that it committed. That shutdown defense made it difficult for the Wild to find any momentum, and that led to an easy 4-0 victory for the road team.

The Blues also helped themselves in Game 1 by naming Ville Husso the starting netminder. Of course, Jordan Binnington is the goalie that led St. Louis to a Stanley Cup championship in 2019, but Husso has been the better goaltender this season.

He stood tall in this opening game, stopping all 29 of the shots he faced through the first 40 minutes of action. When things were all said and done, Husso saved each of the 37 shots he faced, helping his club get out to a 1-0 series lead.

The Blues will attempt to extend their series lead when they take the ice on Wednesday, May 4 for Game 2.