Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. St. Louis, Game 5

The essentials

At the rink

Neither team skated at Xcel Energy Center this morning because of the early puck drop.
Wild forward Erik Haula is expected to return to the lineup after missing Game 4 with an undisclosed injury. Haula doesn't have a point yet in the series, but has six goals and 12 points in 23 career playoff games.
Sitting out was tough for Haula, who played in 72 games during the regular season.
"I wasn't really able to watch it that much, I was so nervous," Haula said on Friday. "But what I saw was that they played really well and they played really hard, played team defense and [Devan Dubnyk] played great in the net. I think that's what we need to do. Obviously it's been the story of the series so far, it's that first goal."
Paul Stastny could return to the lineup for the Blues. He's been out with a lower-body injury since March 21, but scored 18 goals and had 40 points in 66 games during the regular season.
Here are the projected lineups:
WILD
Charlie Coyle - Eric Staal - Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Mikael Granlund
Jason Zucker - Martin Hanzal - Jason Pominville
Chris Stewart - Erik Haula - Ryan White
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Marco Scandella - Matt Dumba
Jonas Brodin - Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
BLUES
Jaden Schwartz - Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen - Patrik Berglund - David Perron
Vladimir Sobotka - Jori Lehtera - Magnus Paajarvi
Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko
Carl Gunnarsson - Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton

Series recap

Minnesota avoided elimination with a 2-0 win over St. Louis at Scottrade Center on Wednesday night, bringing the series back to St. Paul for at least a Game 5. Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves for his first win this postseason and second career playoff shutout. Charlie Coyle and Martin Hanzal scored goals for Minnesota, which must win the next three games in order to advance to the second round. The Blues are 2-0 at Xcel Energy Center in this series, winning 2-1 in overtime in Game 1 before securing another 2-1 victory in Game 2.

Connections

• Wild forward Chris Stewart scored 63 goals and 115 points in 211 games over four seasons with the Blues from 2011-2014.
• Wild assistant coach Scott Stevens skated one season for the Blues, scoring five goals and 49 points in 1990-91.
• Blues head coach coach Mike Yeo compiled a 173-132-44 record as the Wild's head coach from 2011 until last February.
• St. Louis assistant coach Rick Wilson served in the same role with Minnesota from 2010 through the end of last season.
• Blues forward Kyle Brodziak spent six seasons in a Wild sweater (2009-15), scoring 169 points, including 72 goals in 446 games.

Duby, Duby, doo

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Dubnyk became just the second goaltender in NHL history to post a shutout win on the road in Game 4 of a best-of-7 playoff series with his team facing elimination, joining former teammate Mike Smith of the (then) Phoenix Coyotes, who backstopped his club to a 2-0 win in Los Angeles in the 2012 Western Conference Finals.