Two of the three meetings in the regular season required overtime while the other was at the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day — so seeing St. Louis sweep the season series is to be taken with a grain of salt.
The Wild have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the trade deadline when they acquired Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks. Since March 16, Minnesota is a superb 22-2-3.
Its defense has carried the way having allowed two or fewer goals in 14 of their final 23 games.
St. Louis was just as hot down the stretch, going 14-0-2 in a 16-game sprint from March 28-April 24.
Both teams will have difficult goalie decisions to make heading into the playoffs. Fleury and All-Star Cam Talbot will be fighting for minutes for the Wild while the Blues have seen Ville Husso outplay Stanley Cup-winning netminder Jordan Binnington.
Considering Minnesota’s goaltending situation seems more stable, I’ll take them to narrowly get past a high-powered Blues team that has a lethal power play. But it would be no surprise to see St. Louis advance, either.