St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 2 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/4/2022

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference First Round, Game 2 -- Blues lead 1-0

Time: 9:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

Where to watch: ESPN, Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Wild -130, Blues +110

BetMGM: Wild -130, Blues +105

Caesars: Wild -130, Blues +110

So … the St. Louis Blues and David Perron did that in Game 1. Of all the Game 1s that happened to begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs, what they did against the Minnesota Wild is probably the most emphatic, winning 4-0 in the opener to the series in St. Paul.

Game 2 is at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.

Perron had a hat trick and an assist, and Ville Husso had a 37-save shutout for the first of his young career to get the underdog Blues off to a thrilling start. St. Louis isn’t a large underdog in this series, but to dominate like this and make life hell for Marc-Andre Fleury is a good start to this series.

"It feels good to get the win, for sure," Husso said. "I was a little nervous before, like normally, but got a good start for the game. Guys battled hard. The penalty kill was unreal. Power play was good (2-for-6), so it was a big win for us."

I don’t think there’s any doubt that the Wild should bounce back in a resounding way, but it says a lot for how well Husso played in Game 1. He made two big stops on a Minnesota power play, one on Kirill Kaprizov and another on Jordan Greenway, but both times the young goalie stopped. Even when Fleury stopped a penalty shot from Ivan Barbashev, the Blues came right back and scored their first goal within minutes.

"[The] next game, I think it's going to be a lot different," Perron said. "If they grab the first goal tonight, it's probably a different game. It's huge in playoffs to get the first one. We've just got to turn the page and get ready for the next one."

The Wild, realistically, got off to a strong start, but the game tilts in a different way if the Wild bury one of those chances.

"It was a good way to get into the game early on, if you make the save," Fleury said. "I thought we had a good start. The team was skating well, and we had the puck a bunch. I wanted to make the save and keep the momentum going for us. That was fun. The crowd got on their feet and stuff, it's just too bad [about] the rest of the game."

I do wonder if the Wild are going to go with Cam Talbot in Game 2. I don’t think Fleury was technically bad, but Minnesota has relied heavily on both of their goaltenders to get to this point. As long as Jared Spurgeon doesn’t do stupid cross-checking penalties, they should be in good shape.

Amazing how he only got a fine out of that just because it didn’t result in injury. Who the hell cross-checks someone’s ankle?

"Husso made some good saves," Wild forward Kevin Fiala said. "You can't say we didn't try. We had great opportunities 5-on-5 and on the power play as well. We hit the bar, I don't know how many times today (three); it can go the other way and it looks differently.

"But we have to let it go now. It's Game 1 and it's playoff hockey. It's best-of-7. We have to be ready for the next one."

I expect the Wild to play much better. This series is likely going seven games, and I’d expect the home team to serve notice and win Game 2 in a much better offensive effort. Wild win 4-3

Blues are 18-9 this season against division opponents.

Blues are 24-15 this season after a win by two goals or more.

Wild are 7-0 after playing two straight division games.

Wild are 9-1 off a home loss this season and 27-8 over the past three seasons.

Blues:

Brandon Saad -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev -- Tyler Bozak -- Jordan Kyrou

Alexei Toropchenko -- Logan Brown -- Nathan Walker

Torey Krug -- Colton Parayko

Nick Leddy -- Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola -- Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso

Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Nick Bjugstad

Kevin Fiala -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno

Nicolas Deslauriers -- Tyson Jost -- Brandon Duhaime

Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba

Jon Merrill -- Dmitry Kulikov

Marc-Andre Fleury