First, I'm going to go ahead and focus on game three of the first-round series between the Wild and Blues. Because, let's get some positive vibes back into this Wild team.
But let's get the basics out of the way. The Wild and Blues were tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven series when the Wild beat the Blues 3-0 in game three. The Blues evened things again with a 6-1 hockey-clinic beating in game four. The series shifts back to St. Louis for game five Friday, all tied up at two.
Game three
Though Coach Mike Yeo didn't want to use the word "dominating" to describe his team's performance in front of the home crowd for Monday's game three in St. Paul, everybody else seemed fine with it.
The 3-0 win was the first shutout recorded in this season's NHL playoffs so far. Devan Dubnyk came through again.
It was a scoreless game until later in the second period, despite the Wild outshooting the blues by a significant margin. Chance after chance didn't go in for the home team, which was a bit nerve-wracking after awhile. Blues goalie Jake Allen kept coming up with the big saves. You just had the feeling that the Blues would strike first on some fluke bounce or rush, because that's often how it goes.
Jason Pominville finally scored to put the Wild up 1-0. He buried a Zach Parise rebound into a wide-open net. The second goal was all Parise. With the puck in the slot, he battled his way through a defender and tossed the puck past Allen for a 2-0 lead.
We all held our breath and then cringed as Granlund misfired a shot wide of the gaping-hole net in the third that would have been a dagger. Still, the Wild continued their strong play and Nino Niederreiter scored an empty netter with about two minutes left.
The Wild looked great and the Blues didn't. Through this point, some of the Blues key players were held off the scoresheets in the series. As a bonus, the Wild weren't engaging in the tough-guy act of the Blues. I think the best was when Steve Ott tried to engage Matt Dumba, who was on the Wild bench. Dumba just laughed.
Game four
But as good as the Wild looked in game three, the team left fans all across the state of hockey with a sour, maybe disgusting, taste in their mouths after a 6-1 implosion at home. It was brutal. If you didn't see the game, you probably helped your blood pressure in doing so.
Let's see, the Wild went down 1-0 just 5:34 into the game. It wasn't the best looking goal to give up if you're Duby. Things just got worse from there. About 90 seconds later, Vladimir Tarasenko scored the first of his two goals on the night to put the Blues up 2-0. It was 3-0 by the halfway mark of the first period.
The only glimmer of hope for the Wild came early in the second. They started out on the power play, thanks to our dear friend Ott, and did exactly what they needed to do. Jared Spurgeon scored to make it just a two-goal deficit again, trailing 3-1. After that, the Wild had some life again. We started to see a different team than the one in the first period, as at least three people in my Twitter feed noted. A little momentum went their way and with a lot of hockey left, we hoped for a turnaround.
That theory went down the drain two minutes after Spurgie's goal when Paul Stastny (a Wild killer in last year's playoffs in the Colorado series) scored to make the score 4-1. The game was already not going well, but to me, this tally was the real nail in the coffin for game four.
By the end of 40 minutes, it was a 6-1 lead for the Blues. Dubnyk got the hook, giving Darcy Kuemper a chance for some playoff minutes.
Dubnyk did not look sharp from the start, and I'm not sure why. Though after the way he saved the Wild's season, it's hard to get on the guy too much. Sure, he let in some bad goals. But he didn't have a team in front of him either. They gave him zero help.
I'm not sure what happened to the Wild. They came out flat and didn't seem to have any urgency all night. They couldn't get pucks through neutral ice effectively. When they had the puck looking to break out of their own zone, the made a bunch of non-crisp passes like they were the ones with a huge lead. They weren't making the same headman passes that worked so well for them earlier in the series. The list goes on.
Basically, they didn't show up.
It's never easy
Here's the other thing I know: The Wild just can't make it easy on themselves, for some reason. A win Wednesday would have meant a 3-1 series lead, putting them in a great position over the Blues, who must be feeling pressure to break out of the first-round slump they've had. This team has shown time and again that it plays well when backs are against the wall. This series is no different, I guess.
It's interesting, because throughout their playoff history, the Wild are usually the ones chasing. They've come back to win series down 3-1 multiple times. Now we've seen what happens when the Wild have a lead and momentum. If game four's play is a response to that, I guess I'll take being the comeback kids any day.
The Wild head to St. Louis for game five, and they will return to St. Paul for game six. It goes without saying that the Wild need a huge rebound response in game five, since they threw away momentum last night. But even if they lose, the series isn't over until it's over.
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