The Stanley Cup was awarded for the first time in 1893, and this year 16 teams are chasing the coveted trophy. Up to Lord Stanley’s Hardware is 16 wins, making the Stanley Cup one of the most difficult trophies in the sports world to win!
Minnesota Wild (C2): St. Louis Blues (C3)
Season-Series: 0: 3 (4: 6, 3: 4 OT, 5: 6 OT)
Playoff-History: two 1st round matchups, 2014/15 4-2 for Minnesota, 2016/17 4-1 for St. Louis
This matchup in the Central Division had been fixed since mid-April. When the Wild and the Blues dueled for the last time in the “regular season” on April 16, the 1st round duel was already fixed. The three duels of the season were extremely competitive, two duels were only decided in extra time, a total of no fewer than 28 goals.
With 113 points, the Minnesota Wild put down the best season in their club history. Nevertheless, it was “only” enough for second place in the Central Division led by the Colorado Avalanche – so the team from Hockey State is going into the first round duel with St. Louis with home advantage. 310 goals scored mean rank 5 in a league-wide comparison, but the special teams are in need of improvement: in the power play, the team of head coach Dean Evason ranked 18th, outnumbered with 76.1% only ranked 25th.
In the past season there were many fathers of success: led by the Russian super striker Kirill Kaprizov, who was one of eight NHL cracks who was able to break the 100 point mark, players like the Swiss Kevin Fiala can also look back on real “career years”. . The St. Gallener completed all 82 games and scored 33 goals and 85 points. Kaprizov himself set a slew of new Wild franchise records with 47 goals and 61 assists, and lived up to all his early praise. At the NHL trade deadline, none other than three-time Stanley Cup Champion Marc-Andre Fleury, who forms an absolutely reliable goalie tandem with Cam Talbot, strengthened the team. With his “crunchtime” experience in particular, Fleury might become an important factor in the playoffs – whether he’s on the ice or not.
Bild: https://www.facebook.com/minnesotawild
The St. Louis Blues were four points short of the wild and therefore also of the home right. With 109 points, however, it was the third most successful season for the team from the US state of Missouri – they also achieved exactly the same number of points in 2011 and 2014. This is the Blues’ 45th appearance in the playoffs, only missing the postseason nine times. Unlike the opponent from Minnesota, the special teams were a real strength: with 27% they had the second-best power play in the entire league and the 84.1% undamaged underman games meant 5th place in the final calculation.
Despite the summer disagreements, Vladimir Tarasenko seemed to have settled back into the team well. The Russian was unhappy and regarding to leave the team, but a way was eventually found to continue working together and Tarasenko led the Blues with 82 points, a career high. With Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jordan Kyrou three more cracks cracked the 70 point mark, altogether eight cracks made it over 50 points. In St. Louis they have been living off the constant offensive from the backend for many years. Justin Faulk (47pts) and Torey Krug (42pts) were extremely important pillars in head coach Craig Berube’s system once more this year. In goal, the Finn Ville Husso earned the status of #1 – with 91.9% save and 2.56 “goals once morest average” he definitely outperformed Jordan Binnington.
The fans can expect an extremely competitive series in which a winner will probably only be found following six or even seven games. The seasonal duels were too close to be able to speak of a clear favorite here. Game 1 is already on tonight at Minnesota’s Xcel Energy Center.
hockey-news.info , Bild: facebook.com/minnesotawild
