St. Louis Blues (49-22-11, third in the Central Division) vs. Minnesota Wild (53-22-7, second in the Central Division)
Saint Paul, Minnesota; Monday, 9:30 p.m. EDT
LINE: Wild -141, Blues +120; over/under is 5.5
NHL PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND: Wild host series opener
BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Wild host the St. Louis Blues to start the Western Conference first round. The teams meet Saturday for the sixth time this season. The Blues went 5-0 against the Wild in the regular season. In their last regular season matchup on April 16, the Blues won 6-5 in overtime. Ryan O'Reilly led the Blues with two goals.
Minnesota has a 53-22-7 record overall and an 11-9-3 record in Central Division games. The Wild have gone 17-5-3 in games decided by a single goal.
St. Louis has gone 49-22-11 overall with a 16-5-3 record against the Central Division. The Blues have a 28-8-5 record when scoring a power-play goal.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kirill Kaprizov has 47 goals and 61 assists for the Wild. Kevin Fiala has seven goals and 12 assists over the past 10 games.
Vladimir Tarasenko has scored 34 goals with 48 assists for the Blues. Pavel Buchnevich has five goals and 11 assists over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 8-1-1, averaging 4.2 goals, 7.2 assists, 4.3 penalties and 11.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.
Blues: 7-2-1, averaging 4.7 goals, 8.6 assists, 2.5 penalties and five penalty minutes while giving up 3.3 goals per game.
INJURIES: Wild: Mats Zuccarello: day to day (lower body), Marcus Foligno: day to day (lower-body).
Blues: Brayden Schenn: day to day (upper body), Mackenzie MacEachern: out (upper-body), Scott Perunovich: out (wrist).
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