Wild aims to redeem itself at home, knock off the St. Louis Blues on Sunday

There was a quiet confidence at Xcel Energy Center today -- which perhaps is better than the presumed overconfidence that emerged between Games 3 and 4.

As the old cliché goes, the hardest win to get in a best-of-seven playoff series is that fourth and decisive one, so the Wild's taking nothing for granted and knows it hasn't won anything yet.

The Blues will come in desperate and vowed from their availability in St. Louis to put forth its best effort to try to force a Game 7 on Wednesday at home.

The Wild, which has never won a series in less than seven games, hopes to end things before that though with a big win Sunday in Game 6 (2 p.m., NBC) to eliminate the Central Division champion for a second consecutive year in the first round.

Good late afternoon from Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild held an optional practice today.

I will be on KFAN with Dan Barreiro from 9-10 a.m. Sunday and on Fox Sports North during its hourlong pregame show.

The Wild says it learned its lesson from Wednesday 6-1 Game 4 home loss and doesn't want to put itself in a position where it leaves things to chance in Game 7.

Added Blues forward Jaden Schwartz, "Well, certainly [Sunday's] game is going to have to be our best. Our season's on the line, really, plain and simple. We have to do everything we can to bring it back here and that's going to be our mentality and leave everything out there and have no excuses at the end of the game."

The Blues' Jori Lehtera, the center that missed Game 5, skated on his own before the Blues' optional Saturday and is questionable for Sunday's game. Wild coach Mike Yeo says all Wild players are good to go.

"Hopefully our fans are having a couple of Bloody Marys with breakfast to get in a good frame of mind," Yeo said.

"Our crowd is something that is very motivating to our group and it means a lot in certain situations as far as momentum for your team," Yeo said. "But that said, we know what we're up against here still. They didn't win their division by accident, that team, it's a very proud group. We're ready for a hard game."

Bizarre series. The road team has won three games, including the Wild twice in St. Louis.

Momentum hasn't carried from game to game.

"I'm hoping the fact that we've faced pressure for the better part of three months now, I'm hoping that's something that we can use to our advantage here," Yeo said. "But again, I'm not sitting around hoping that things are going to just fall into place. I know that if we're going to get the result that we want, we're absolutely going to have to earn it and we have to be ready for that.

"For us, just the way we have to approach it, we have an opportunity here. It's an exciting opportunity, but it's only that. it's only an opportunity unless you take advantage of it, so we have to start getting ready to give ourselves the best chance to take advantage of it."

On Game 6, Zach Parise said, "We're all looking forward to it, it's going to be a tough game, we're expecting that and we know that. We've worked hard to put ourselves in a position to win a series and we'll try our best to do that."

On the importance of closing it out at home, Parise said, "That's the ideal scenario of course, we'd love to have a great game on home ice, but that being said, we know it's not going to be easy, it's going to be a tough game and anytime a team is facing elimination, you know they are going to be desperate. If we can worry about ourselves and play a smart game, and a patient game, we'll give ourselves a chance."

Dubnyk again said the Wild needs to treat Game 6 like it's their Game 7: "We have to. We have put ourselves in a good situation to hopefully close out the series. We don't want to be going back to St. Louis and put in a situation where it's one game game-winner, a win-or-go-home. We have a chance to close it tomorrow and we need to do that."