The Wild completed its morning skate and media session before Game 3 a little while ago. I checked with the league and Elias Sports Bureau to find out the all-time playoff record for a home team in Game 3 when trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven series.
According to Elias, the home team has a 122-131 record in that scenario. I found that a little surprising. I thought the home team would have a better record because of the home-ice advantage and desperation factor.
In any event, I think the Wild will win tonight. Maybe something like 2-1 or 3-2. They should be desperate and rested and get some extra energy from a lively crowd.
One quote from Mike Yeo jumped out at me during his morning news conference. Yeo was asked a question about the difference from his perspective in the Avs series and what it will take to win this series against a Blackhawks team that has now won 6 of 7 playoff games against the Wild the past two years.
"For us, it's the mental hurdle," he said. "The first two games, I don't think we were completely on top of our game. We did a lot of good things and were right there with them. Scoring chances coming through two games were very even, we had a small edge in shots for. We had a pretty small edge in shot attempts for, which is a big difference from last year.
"As far as I'm concerned, we've leveled the playing field here, but we have to take the next step. We have to push past being close or even to them. We have to make sure that we get ahead of them. I believe that we can. It's a great test. It's a great team, but we've got a pretty darn good team ourselves. We just have to prove it now."
