Wild/Blues Series Has Been a Letdown Through Three Games

The Minnesota Wild lead their best-of-seven series against the St. Louis Blues, two games to one, and it hasn’t been overly exciting.

When the Blues and Wild clinched positions that guaranteed a first-round meeting between the two Central Division foes, it had the potential to be the best series of round one. That has not been the case to this point.

Of course, there is still plenty of time for things to get tighter between two of the best teams that the Western Conference has to offer, but after the first three games, I’m left feeling disappointed by what has transpired.

Overall, it’s a 2-1 series that Minnesota is leading, which is as close as the series could be right now. It’s how we got to this point that has been lackluster.

The Blues/Wild series has been underwhelming so far.

Game 1 went to the Blues, as they blanked the Wild and won by four goals in the process. While Minnesota has gone on to win games two and three of the series, that first game set the standard in terms of the margin of victories.

The Wild evened things up in Game 2 by winning 6-2, then took their first lead of the series with a 5-1 win in St. Louis on Friday night. With each of the first three games being decided by four goals, there has yet to be a contest that truly garnered attention for a full 60 minutes.

To make the games even less interesting, consider the fact that these were not scores that got out of hand late thanks to empty-net goals or overly aggressive play by the trailing team. Instead, the games were virtually decided by the end of the first period.

St. Louis had a 2-0 lead after one period of play in Game 1, Minnesota was up by three goals after 20 minutes in Game 2, and the Wild struck in the opening minute of Game 3 en route to a two-goal advantage at the first intermission.

Individual players like Kirill Kaprizov, who has four goals and five points already in this series, have made things exciting to some extent, but it’s hard to enjoy great individual efforts when the games are already decided.

As the Blues look to even the series in terms of games, fans will be keeping their fingers crossed that the next handful of games will yield more entertaining and complete action.