NBCSN will continue its coverage of the 2016-17 campaign tonight when the Minnesota Wild host the St. Louis Blues at 8:00 p.m. ET. If you want to watch the game online, you can do so here.
Raise your hand if you expected the Blues to shut out the high-flying Penguins on Tuesday night (no one should have their hands raised). But that’s exactly what they did, as Carter Hutton kept Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and company off the board.
Prior to their last game, the Blues said Jake Allen would return to the net for tonight’s tilt against the Wild. Now, it’s a little difficult to envision them going away from Hutton after he stopped all 34 shots the Pens fired at him the other night.
“The last game changed that ... based on play,” Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I mean there’s shutouts and then there’s shutouts that are highly earned. That was a highly earned shutout and you have to reward that. Any coach has to reward that. He had a lot of work, he made big saves, made big saves when it was 1-0, so to me that’s an earned shutout and we’ve got to reward that.”
The Blues told Allen to stay home so he could “reset” after his recent struggles. He didn’t accompany the team to Winnipeg or Pittsburgh, but that will change tonight. Yesterday, St. Louis assigned Pheonix Copley back to the minors, which opens the door for Allen’s return...as the backup.
Not only did the win over Pittsburgh snap their three-game losing streak, but it was also the first time they held an opponent to under five goals since Jan. 15.
The Blues still find themselves in the top Wild Card spot in the West, but unfortunately for them, the teams in the rear-view mirror are very close.
Regardless what happens tonight, the Wild will be satisfied with their overall play from the start of the season to the All-Star break.
After all, they’re two points clear of Chicago for top spot in the Central Division and they have three games in hand on the ‘Hawks.
“It’s one thing to be here right now and to get to this spot,’’ forward Charlie Coyle said, per the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “But it’s another thing to stay there, and to be there come playoff time and get that home ice. That’s something we want to do, and something we’re capable of.
“We want to get as many points as we can. It will be good for us to get a mental and physical break. But we’ve got to take care of [tonight’s] game, and that’s our focus right now.’’
Unlike St. Louis’ shaky goaltending, the Wild have received incredible performances between the pipes from Devan Dubnyk this season. The Wild goaltender would arguably be the favorite to land the Vezina Trophy if the season ended today and he’d likely receive some Hart Trophy votes too.
Dubnyk currently owns the best save percentage (.935) and goals-against-average (1.91) in the league, and he’s second in wins (26) and second in shutouts (5).
This should be a good one!