Blues face a Wild team that has not yet lost to a Central opponent
The St. Louis Blues are among the best teams in the NHL, but the Minnesota Wild are unbeaten against Central Division rivals.
The Blues will try to end the Wild's success within the division by re-establishing their dominance in the series Saturday night.
St. Louis' 32 points are one behind Montreal, Vancouver and Anaheim. The Blues (15-6-2) rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits before Vladimir Tarasenko scored with 39.4 seconds left in overtime in Friday's 4-3 win over Edmonton to improve to 3-0-1 since last Saturday.
"I'm happy to have two points right now," Tarasenko said of his third game-winning goal this season and second in overtime.
The Wild (13-9-0) needed the extra session to extend their unbeaten streak in the division to six games, though they've yet to face the Central's top three teams in Nashville, Chicago and St. Louis. After blowing a 3-0 second-period lead, Thomas Vanek scored with 1:52 left in regulation to force overtime before assisting on Marco Scandella's winner to beat Dallas 5-4 on the road.
"I don't know what it is," said Vanek, alluding to this being the third time Minnesota has squandered a three-goal lead this season -- emerging victorious twice. "I don't think we change our game, but I think it's something that we have to be smarter."
That's probably necessary against St. Louis, which has won nine of the past 10 meetings with the Wild. However, the 4-2 defeat came in the most recent matchup on April 10 at Minnesota.
Tarasenko, though, missed that visit with an upper-body injury, and he leads the Blues with 13 goals and 25 points. The right wing's influence on their victories is obvious, as 12 of his goals and 22 points have come in wins.
FOX Sports Midwest coverage of the Blues-Wild game begins at 6:30 p.m. with Blues Live.
All six of his meetings with the Wild have ended in wins, but he's failed to score while getting four assists.
It's unclear if the Blues will start Jake Allen on back-to-back nights after he made 13 saves Friday in his first start since Brian Elliott was lost indefinitely to a lower-body injury.
Allen, 24, is 7-2-1 with a 2.19 goals-against average and two shutouts this season, and has appeared in 25 career games in two seasons. If coach Ken Hitchcock decides to rest Allen, Jordan Binnington -- called up from Chicago of the AHL earlier this week -- could make his NHL debut.
Elliott's injury also caused the Blues to audition free agent Martin Brodeur, with a decision on his status expected next week.
Minnesota is dealing with its own issues in net, as No. 1 goaltender Darcy Kuemper owns a 3.60 GAA while splitting his last four games. He made 41 saves against the Stars after managing just six on 10 shots and being pulled after the opening period in a 4-0 defeat to Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Kuemper has 19 stops in a 5-1 loss at St. Louis in his only career meeting with the Blues on March 27, surrendering a hat trick to T.J. Oshie, who is coming off a three-point performance Friday.
Backup Niklas Backstrom is 0-4-1 with a 3.80 GAA in his last five meetings with St. Louis, losing all three at home with a 4.04 GAA.
Zach Parise has seven points in six games after missing five with an upper-body injury. The left wing had a season-high three assists Friday, combining with Vanek on the decisive tally.
