GAME 6 VS. MINNESOTA
When: Thursday, May 12 at 8:30 p.m. CT
Where: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO
Watch: Bally Sports Midwest, Bally Sports app, TNT
Listen: Q94 KSPQ 93.9 fm
Tickets: Buy online at Ticketmaster.com
St. Louis leads best-of-7 series, 3-2
The St. Louis Blues got their work done on the road in Game 5 and now have a chance to close out the series in front of their home crowd Thursday night.
A back-and-forth game, it took a spectacular third period from the whole team – especially Vladimir Tarasenko – to wrestle control away from Minnesota and give the Blues a 3-2 series lead over the Wild.
Tarasenko scored twice in a 1:28 span – the second-quickest time between Playoff goals in franchise history – and followed it up with an empty-netter to record his second career postseason hat trick.
“(Tarasenko’s) an elite player – great shots,” said Brandon Saad, who added an equalizer goal in the second period. “He’s a special player, you can’t say enough good things about him. Obviously he helped our team win tonight, we know how big of a part of our team he is… Great goals tonight, and we’re looking to move onto the next game.”
Nick Leddy and Robert Bortuzzo were welcome returns to the blue line, and rookie Scott Perunovich recorded his second assist in as many games during this series. With the Blues winning two games in a row playing a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen, Head Coach Craig Berube may have found something with this emphasis on defensive play.
Though the Blues and Wild are both undoubtedly focused on the here and now, Colorado’s 4-0 sweep over Nashville on Monday night guarantees the Avalanche as the second-round opponent for the winner of this series.
Game 6 is Thursday at 8:30 p.m. CT.
NOTEWORTHY STATS
– Jordan Binnington recorded his 18th career postseason victory in Game 6, taking sole possession of the all-time franchise record among goalies.
– The Blues hold an all-time series record of 12-2 (.857) when leading a series 3-2.
– In the NHL, when a best-of-7 series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 holds an all-time series record of 219-58 (.791).
THEY SAID IT
“It’s not a time to think about any (individual) achievements for now. Biggest thing is we won the game – just move on to the next one. At this point, from our experience in 2019, we learned that only wins matter.” – Vladimir Tarasenko after his hat trick in Game 5
“We have an opportunity to play another hockey game, and it has to be our best game. We have to get rid of the uncharacteristic mistakes that we had tonight, get the job done there, and come back here.” – Wild Head Coach Dean Evason after Game 5
BLUE NOTES
Tarasenko’s hat trick made him the third player in franchise history to score three goals in a Playoff period, and the fourth in franchise history to record a natural hat trick in the postseason. His 39 career postseason goals share 13th in the NHL among active players… The Blues have recorded at least one power-play goal in all five games against Minnesota in the first round. Their six power-play goals on 20 attempts (30 percent) currently makes for a higher conversion rate than their regular-season mark of 27.0 percent, a franchise record.
