Blues Defying Critics, Three up on Wild

The story of the St. Louis Blues goaltender is well known these days.

"That we've got loud fans", Allen said, getting a laugh out of the media scrum. "That's about it right now".

A main difference in that series against the Avalanche compared to this series against the Blues, is in that series from three years ago the Wild played Games 3 and 4 at home, while they'll play Games 3 and 4 on the road this time around. The Wild have not had a lead in nearly 200 minutes of play. Three of the six goals for the Blues in the series have been scored by their defensemen. Both goaltenders have been excellent in this series, and winning a game is centered on who can solve the opposition's goalie first.

The goal was the second of the series for Schwartz.

The Wild finished the regular season ninth in the National Hockey League with a 21.0 percent success rate on the power play. Their only goal on the power play came with a two-man advantage in Game 2 against a Blues team that finished third in the National Hockey League this season on the penalty kill.

Outside of not stopping a Charlie Coyle shot, Allen thwarted the Wild's insistence to dump-n-chase by acting like a third defenseman back in his zone.

"They've stuck to their game plan and we've stuck to ours and it was a real tough test for us out there the second half of the game", Allen said. "He played well. I think if we continue to do what we do, get around that net, play the way we can, we're going to get something, for sure". Left wing Zach Parise scored to tie it up with only 23 seconds left in the third period, but the team ultimately fell 2-1 in overtime. The last 10 meetings between these two teams have produced at leas three goals and the over is 33-16-3 in Minnesota's 52 games. But we just have to execute a little bit better overall.

"I don't think they were, "Oh, woe is me"-type thing". They just have absolutely nothing to show for it, and now they need to win four games in a row.

That essentially makes Game 2 Friday at Xcel Energy Center a must-win, although the Wild won't flat-out say it. Yeah, they were swarming all over the ice, they had us hemmed in there, but we chipped pucks out, we made simple plays. We're going to expect the exact same thing. "Quit trying to put words in our mouths that make us look like we're bad because we're not". Joel Edmundson had his second goal of the series in the second period while Zach Parise also scored his second goal of the series in the loss. Defensively, the St. Louis Blues are allowing 2.6 goals per game and are killing 84.8 percent of their opponents power plays. "It's a bounce one way or the other and it's pretty insane to be in this situation with three games like that but again all we can do is keep pushing the way we're pushing. That's all it comes down to".

Now down 3-0, the Wild will need a historic comeback if it hopes to advance in this series.

"This is a new experience for all of us", Yeo said. "He's been around the team now for a couple years, and he's just a good sounding board and confidence booster to have". That's how you mature and how you grow as a group. They also know the series is far from over.

"I saw the replay".

The Blues now have the chance to do what many thought was undoable at the start of the playoffs, and sweep the Wild at home on Wednesday. Wild C Erik Haula was in the lineup after missing practice on Saturday.

The trend of this series continued on Sunday night as Game 3 was yet another grind-it-out defensive battle.

"We know the last two (victories) are going to be the hardest and it starts in Game 3", forward Jaden Schwartz told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, since then, Allen's sparkling form has been coupled with some solid Blues offence which has St Louis hitting the right notes and Minnesota singing the blues.