Minnesota Wild

Vladimir Tarasenko broke out for the St. Louis Blues with a well-timed natural hat trick, putting the Minnesota Wild in real trouble.

That gave the Wild a 2-1 edge, completing the first lead change in the series. Zach Parise, with 16 goals in 44 games, has the most career playoff goals in franchise history. Rookie Scott Perunovich, who appeared in the lineup in Game 4 for his first action in four months, was the seventh defenseman to suit up while the Blues made only 11 forwards active. Marcus Foligno screened Binnington on Kaprizov’s first goal, a wrister that buzzed over the goaltender’s glove. Kaprizov has an NHL-leading seven goals in the playoffs, already a Wild record for a series. NOTES: Marian Gaborik, with nine goals in 18 games in 2003, holds the Wild scoring record for a single postseason. It’s the time to stay confident,” Kaprizov said through a translator, also disinterested in relishing his individual play. “We got better as the game went on.” The series returns to St. Louis for Game 6 on Thursday night. The biggest thing is we won the game, and let’s move onto the next one,” said Tarasenko, who scored once in the first four games. I would have liked to have saved them all, right?” He tacked on an empty-netter with 1:33 remaining.

The Wild gave up a third-period hat trick to the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko and now will have to win in St. Louis to stay alive.

In fact, his seven goals have tied Walz and Andrew Brunette for the second-most in a single Wild postseason. After winning a 50-50 puck off a faceoff, Kaprizov in one motion lifted Colton Parayko’s stick in the right faceoff circle and stripped him of the puck. It’s the time to stay confident. We’ll talk about the group and try to make decisions to have some adjustments and tweaks for sure. Zuccarello, Kevin Fiala, Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno have combined for one goal in the series. “The goal isn’t for a player to play well,” Kaprizov said through a translator. Zuccarello fell to the ice and the puck was coughed up. Leading 2-1 after one period, the Wild were unable to build on their advantage in the second and ultimately gave up a chintzy tying goal late in the period. Fleury is the well-decorated goalie the Wild coaching staff and brass chose to start all five games in the series despite Cam Talbot reeling off points in 16 consecutive starts to end the season and despite the fact that Fleury has not looked settled for most of the series and seemed out of sorts again Tuesday. You get two out of your best player, and you need other guys following up on it.” As he’s done all series, Evason said after Tuesday’s game that Fleury’s “play has been real good” when asked if we could see a goalie change in Game 6. Would have liked to have saved them all and prevent that from happening.

With all due respect to Nashville, they were outclassed in the first round, and the post-game quotes from their two defensive stalwarts demonstrate that they ...

The Blues are better equipped to drag the Avs into a style they are not used to playing, but the Wild have the skill and scoring ability to meet the Avs on their own terms. I tend to think that the Blues are a better match-up for the Avs, as they are a bit slower than the Wild and would not be able to keep up with a track meet should the Avs impose their will on the series. Add in the fact that the Wild have the most talented offensive player between the two teams in Kirill Kaprizov, and those two alone could be enough to swing an series against the Wild in favor of the underdog. By mucking up the neutral zone and playing a heavy, overly physical game in all three zones, it forced the Avs to not only play at a slower pace but to get away from what makes them so dangerous: entering the offensive zone with puck possession and speed. Not knowing who will be playing the game’s most important position on a night-to-night basis is not conducive to the consistency needed to succeed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let’s start with the easiest case to make.