The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
Playing for the third time in four nights, the Wild will try and salvage the final game of the series on Monday night when its hosts the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center.
The two clubs played back-to-back games over the weekend in St. Louis, two games that played out very, very differently.
Friday saw the Blues roll to a 9-1 victory, with the Wild responding much better in a 3-2 overtime loss the following night. Minnesota led on Saturday by a 2-1 margin until the final minute of regulation before St. Louis tied the game on a shot that goaltender Cam Talbot stopped, only to see bounce off defenseman Matt Dumba and into the net with 46 seconds remaining.
The Blues scored the winning goal with two seconds left in overtime.
"The response was great. Absolutely great," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "We completed our butts off, 100 percent it was business like. We rolled the lines, every line did the right things. We had a couple of bad bounces this game.
"I don't want to say we deserved better, because both teams played really well. It was right there. But we caught a couple of bad bounces and that was the difference in the hockey game."
Minnesota will spend this entire week playing at home, following the game against the Blues with contests against Arizona on Wednesday and back-to-back games against San Jose this weekend before heading to the West Coast next week.
With 16 games remaining in the regular season, the Wild will play 10 at home. It currently leads the Blues by seven points for third place in the West Division. Minnesota also has a game in hand.
The game Monday is the fourth game between the Wild and Blues so far this season. Minnesota won 2-0 in St. Paul last month in a game where Talbot finished with a 37-save shutout.
He made 27 saves in a losing effort on Saturday, but is expected to make the start again on Monday.
Minnesota does have a couple of other health questions heading into the game.
Kevin Fiala, who is second on the team in goals with 14, did not play Saturday because of an upper-body injury. Clarity on his exact condition was not available after the game and the Wild did not practice on Sunday.
Marcus Foligno, out for a month with a lower-body injury, accompanied the team to St. Louis but did not play. He is inching closer to a return that could come as soon as this week.
Ryan O'Reilly was a thorn in the Wild's side over the weekend, tallying a hat trick and an assist in the win Friday before scoring the winning goal in overtime the next night. O'Reilly leads the team with 17 goals and is second in points, one behind David Perron's team-best 40.
Jordan Binnington had a low-stress night on Friday, making 24 saves in the lopsided victory. In his past two starts, Binnington has allowed just two goals on 76 shots.
