wild gameday

8:30 P.M. AT ST. LOUIS • SCOTTRADE CENTER • FSN, 100.3-FM

Preview: The Wild and Blues split Games 1 and 2 in St. Louis, then split Games 3 and 4 at Xcel Energy Center. This is the third consecutive playoff round that the Wild has been tied 2-2. The Wild lost Game 5 in the two previous ones on the road, at Colorado and Chicago last year. … The Wild's 6-1 loss Wednesday night was the worst playoff defeat in team history. The Blues scored six goals in a playoff game for the first time since April 10, 2003, at Vancouver (6-0) and it was the third time they won a road playoff game by at least five goals. … The Wild is 2-10 on the road in the 2013, 2014 and 2015 postseasons.

Players to watch: Wild top-six Fs Mikko Koivu, Thomas Vanek, Chris Stewart and Charlie Coyle don't have goals. G Devan Dubnyk is trying to respond from his worst outing from the Wild (chased after allowing six goals on 17 shots in 36 minutes, 10 seconds). … RW Vladimir Tarasenko leads the NHL with five playoff goals and is the first Blues player to have multiple multi-goal games in the same playoff series since Doug Weight in 2003. St. Louis D Kevin Shattenkirk leads the NHL with seven assists and is tied for the league lead with seven points. G Jake Allen has allowed two or fewer goals in 12 consecutive starts.

Numbers: The Wild has lost five consecutive Game 5's since 2003. … The Wild ranks second in the NHL with a .333 power-play percentage. … The Wild and Blues are each 2-0 when they score first. The Blues were 36-6-4 in the regular season, the Wild 35-6-4.

Injuries: Wild D Keith Ballard (concussion) is out. The Blues have no injuries listed.

Michael Russo