The Wild Warmup is presented by Bryant Heating and Cooling
The Wild will try and salvage the third and final game of a series against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota rallied from a three-goal deficit to force overtime in a 5-4 loss to the Blues on Thursday night, just 24 hours removed from losing a two-goal third period lead in a regulation defeat on Wednesday night.
"It was almost like it was the same game just reversed and clearly we didn't get the result," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "What we saw [Wednesday] night was great two periods and not a great third. [On Thursday] we saw two terrible periods and a great third.
"It's encouraging that we know it's there."
Minnesota is 1-2-2 in five games against the Blues. The clubs will conclude the regular season schedule in mid-May with a back-to-back set in St. Louis.
"They're a team that works hard. They've got great sticks. They get in a lot of passing lanes and make it difficult on you from that aspect. They do a lot of similar things that we do to teams," said Wild defenseman Matt Dumba. "It's a hard matchup, and I think this is good for us going into playoffs.
"They're a very desperate hockey club right now with the situation that they're in. I think we're right where we need to be. Clinched a playoff spot, and just working the kinks out of our game so we're ready come playoffs. It's all preparation for that now."
The single point in the standings on Thursday briefly moved the Wild into a second-place tie with the Colorado Avalanche in the West Division. The Avs secured a win over the San Jose Sharks on Friday night, however and still have one game in hand.
St. Louis has moved comfortably ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for the fourth playoff spot in the division and also has games in hand.
Expect Jordan Binnington to get the nod in goal for St. Louis. He's won each of his past three starts, including a 26-save victory his last time out Wednesday night in St. Paul.
David Perron leads the Blues with 48 points, and has three assists in the two games this week against the Wild. Ryan O'Reilly has two goals, and they were both biggies. His third-period goal on Thursday pushed the Blues lead to two goals ahead of Minnesota's tying rally. He then scored the winning tally in overtime, the second time this season he's scored an OT winner against the Wild.
O'Reilly leads the team with 22 goals on the season.
Minnesota will be looking to avoid losing a third consecutive game. They are one of just a handful of NHL clubs to avoid that fate this season.
Minnesota lost consecutive games to St. Louis in early April then rattled off seven consecutive victories, a win streak that was snapped by the Blues' victory on Wednesday.
Cam Talbot started each end of the back-to-back in goal for Minnesota. The nine goals allowed over the past two games are tied for the most he's allowed in consecutive games this season.
If Kaapo Kahkonen starts, it'd be his first effort against the Blues since he allowed all nine goals in a 9-1 loss to St. Louis on April 9. Kahkonen has rebounded nicely from that game, winning each of his two starts since.
