ST. LOUIS – Wild players knew going into the playoffs that St. Louis Blues antagonist Steve Ott would attempt to disrupt and pester them by any means necessary.
Two games in, Ott is living up to his reputation.
"Everybody knows what his job is," Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk said. "That's what he does. That's what he brings to the game. We're good at tuning that out."
It's not easy. Ott clearly is trying to get inside the Wild's head with extracurricular nonsense. He chirped nonstop at Jordan Schroeder, rubbed Jason Zucker's helmet in a weird way and engaged in a tussle with Dubnyk in the crease in a 4-1 victory Saturday at Scottrade Center.
Ott seemingly took a shot at every Wild player at some point.
"You play the game hard and you play the game the right way and try and stay on that fine line without crossing it throughout the night," Ott said.
The Wild would debate Ott's assertion that he stays on the right side of that line. Dubnyk even got into the mix when he whacked Ott several times with his stick after Ott made contact with him in the crease.
"I hit him pretty good," Dubnyk said. "The first one was a poke, the second one was good. But it was fair game. He crashed into me a couple of times before that, a few times after that. I don't mind getting involved like that sometimes.
