Minnesota Wild (43-21-5, second in the Central) vs. St. Louis Blues (40-20-10, third in the Central)
St. Louis; Friday, 8 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota into a matchup with St. Louis. He's seventh in the league with 87 points, scoring 40 goals and totaling 47 assists.
The Blues are 13-5-3 in division games. St. Louis is third in the Western Conference averaging 3.6 goals per game, led by Vladimir Tarasenko with 25.
The Wild are 10-9-1 against opponents in the Central. Minnesota ranks third in the Western Conference recording 9.7 points per game, averaging 3.6 goals and 6.1 assists.
In their last meeting on Jan. 1, St. Louis won 6-4. Jordan Kyrou scored two goals for the Blues.
TOP PERFORMERS: Robert Thomas leads the Blues with 44 assists and has 60 points this season. David Perron has five goals over the last 10 games for St. Louis.
Kaprizov has 87 total points while scoring 40 goals and totaling 47 assists for the Wild. Joel Eriksson Ek has three goals and five assists over the last 10 games for Minnesota.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blues: 6-3-1, averaging 4.1 goals, 7.1 assists, 2.4 penalties and 5.1 penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game with an .892 save percentage.
Wild: 8-1-1, averaging 3.2 goals, 5.6 assists, four penalties and 10.3 penalty minutes while allowing 1.9 goals per game with a .939 save percentage.
INJURIES: Blues: Scott Perunovich: out (wrist), Logan Brown: day to day (illness), Torey Krug: out (upper-body).
Wild: Matt Dumba: day to day (upper body), Jon Merrill: out (upper body), Matt Boldy: day to day (upper body).
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