St. Louis Blues Game Preview: Team Attempts to Even Up Series in Game 2 Against Minnesota Wild

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Blues take on the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday afternoon, aiming to deliver a more complete effort after failing to show the same speed and assertiveness with the puck that the Wild showed in Game 1 on Thursday.

Under normal circumstances, it would be perfectly reasonable for fans to get extremely discouraged by a Game 1 loss. However, it’s almost a relief for those who have been following the Blues for the past few years. In each of the past two postseasons, the Blues have gotten off to 2-0 leads in the first round before going on to lose four straight games in both years to the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively, triggering their elimination from the playoffs.

In contrast, the Blues lost the first game of their first-round series against the San Jose Sharks in 2011-12 before going on to win the next four games of that series and advance to the second round. With the second-seeded Blues facing the seventh-seeded Wild, there’s an expectation that the Blues will be able to at least advance to the second round this year, so another series sequence like the one against San Jose would certainly be beneficial for the Blues.

The Blues won’t be switching things up too drastically, if at all, against Minnesota on Saturday. Goaltender Jake Allen, who gave up two goals in his first-ever NHL postseason start on Thursday, will remain in net for Game 2, and the Blues will utilize the same exact personnel (with the lineup combinations that they ended Thursday’s game with). Instead of making major adjustments, the Blues will attempt to produce at the same effective level as they did in the regular season finale against Minnesota last Saturday.

Next: Blues' Projected Lineup