For the second time in three seasons, the Wild will face the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs.
For the second time in three seasons, Mike Yeo will be behind one of the benches. After coaching the Wild to a playoff series win over the Blues in 2015, Yeo will now come to St. Paul ... as the Blues coach.
My best guess is Games 1 and 2 will be Wednesday and Friday, but that is not confirmed yet. It will be tomorrow night.
SinceYeo took over for Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 1, the Blues are 21-8-2 for 44 points, tied for the second-most in the NHL. They have allowed a league-best 1.87 goals per game since then, have a league-best .936 save percentage and have a league-best 88.5 percent penalty kill. The Wild went 2-2-1 against the Blues this season, 0-1 with Yeo as the head coach.
Overall record 45-29-7 (97 points, 1 game remaining)
Leading scorers: Vladimir Tarasenko 38 goals, 74 points; Jaden Schwartz 19 goals, 55 points; Alexander Steen 16 goals, 51 points.
Goalie: Jake Allen – 32-20-5, .914 save percentage, 2.43 goals-against average, 4 shutouts.
Team stats: Goals For -- 2.84 per game (12th in the NHL); Goals against 2.64 per game (12th in the NHL); Power play – 21.6 percent (8th in the NHL); Penalty kill 84.7 percent (4th in the NHL).
Much more in the coming days.
