Mike Yeo's Blues taking on the Wild in the first round of the playoffs is almost too perfect. Yeo took over the Blues on Feb. 1, guiding St. Louis to a 22-8-2 mark. Included in that run is a closing 15-2-2 stretch — and a 2-1 win over the Wild at Xcel Energy Center, a strangle-life-out-of-you Yeo special.
You can see how Yeo's conservative, defensive-minded approach can win in the playoffs. It already worked twice for the Wild in first-round playoff upsets under the former head coach.
Throw in some playoff struggles for the more offensive-minded current Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, including a 1-7 record in playoff Game 7s, and the trepidation is real.
All that makes for a juicy subplot, but subplots can be overblown. By the time the series starts and players are flying around the ice while coaches are processing rapid-fire information, there won't be time to think about history.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
