NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
The Wild led the Stars 3-0 Tuesday night late in the second period before allowing six unanswered goals (one late in second period, five in the third) to lose 6-3. Three of the six goals by Dallas went in off Wild players for “own goals.” In Minnesota’s eight losses this season, they have given up 39 goals (4.88/gm).
“They just had the adrenaline, the crowd and everything else. It was like a runaway train,” said Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Entering tonight’s game, the Wild average just 2.42 goals/game this season (28th in NHL). And the Wild’s defensemen have been doing the majority of the scoring, as four of the team’s top six scorers are defensemen. On the flip side, a number of key forwards – including their most recent additions – have yet to find a rhythm.
Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko had surgery on his left shoulder and will be out at least five months. Tarasenko left last Thursday’s 5-2 win over Los Angeles after getting tangled up with Kings defenseman Sean Walker with about six minutes left in the first period. The injury is to Tarasenko’s left shoulder, the same one he dislocated during last year’s Stanley Cup Final and had surgery on following the 2017-18 campaign.
St. Louis defeated Detroit 5-4 in OT on Sunday, but not before they blew a 2-0 lead and a 3-1 lead during the game. Ryan O’Reilly scored on the power play with just over four minutes left in the third to send the game to overtime, while David Perron scored the winner just 1:28 into the extraframe.
The Blues have now won three of their last four games (3-1-0), but they have still won just half of their games and have been outscored 38-37 on the season.
[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]
WHAT: Minnesota Wild at St. Louis Blues
WHERE: Enterprise Center
WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Wild-Blues stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
WILD
Jason Zucker - Eric Staal - Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise - Joel Eriksson Ek - Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno - Mikko Koivu - Ryan Hartman
Jordan Greenway - Victor Rask - Ryan Donato
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Mathew Dumba
Carson Soucy - Brad Hunt
Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk
BLUES
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Sammy Blais
Zach Sanford - Ryan O’Reilly - David Perron
Alex Steen - Tyler Bozak - Robert Thomas
MacKenzie MacEachern - Ivan Barbashev - Oskar Sundqvist
Colton Parayko - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Justin Faulk
Carl Gunnarsson - Vince Dunn
Starting goalie: Jordan Binnington
Kathryn Tappen will host Wednesday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Patrick Sharp and Keith Jones and NHL insider Bob McKenzie. John Forslund, Mike Milbury and Brian Boucher will call Wild-Blues from Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO.