It took seven games and nearly a calendar year, but the Minnesota Wild finally figured out how to beat the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 on Wednesday. Now Minnesota will attempt to do something it hasn’t done since November 2018: defeat St. Louis twice in a row.
Bookmakers and bettors aren’t banking on Minnesota accomplishing that feat, as Blues vs Wild odds have St. Louis now modest home chalk, after Game 3 opened a near pick ’em. Following two lopsided contests to start this best-of-7 Western Conference series, the teams head to Missouri, where the Blues haven’t won a playoff game since defeating Boston in Game 4 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final on their way to taking the title.
Props.com dives into Blues vs Wild odds and action for Game 3, which is projected to be a high-scoring affair.
Odds via PointsBet USA and updated as of 3:50 p.m. ET on May 6.
Game 3: Minnesota Wild (1-1) vs St. Louis Blues (1-1)
Puck drop/TV: 9:30 p.m. ET/TNT
Moneyline: Blues -125/Wild +105
Puck Line: Blues -1.5 (+195)/Wild +1.5 (-245)
Total: 6.5 (Over -110/Under -110)
Series Price: Wild -115/Blues -105
Game 2 Recap: After getting blanked 4-0 at home in Game 1, Minnesota’s offense sprung to life Wednesday, scoring the first four goals on the way to a 6-2 victory.
Season Series: St. Louis 4-1-0; Minnesota 1-2-2
Slap Shots
- Minnesota scored three goals in the final 10½ minutes of the first period of Game 2, then tacked on a fourth goal just 51 seconds into the second period and coasted from there.
- Wild left winger Kirill Kaprizov, who had two goals in eight career playoff games going into Wednesday, recorded a hat trick. He scored the final goal of the first period and closed the scoring with two goals 65 seconds apart in the third.
- Joel Eriksson Ek scored two of Minnesota’s first four goals and tacked on an assist.
- Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 of 34 shots. His counterpart, Ville Husso made 22 saves on 27 chances after stopping all 37 shots he faced in Game 1.
- After picking up a hat trick in Game 1, Blues left winger David Perron was held scoreless.
- Minnesota went 2-for-3 on the power play in Game 2 after going 0-for-6 in the series opener. The Blues connected just once on five power-play chances after going 2-for-6 in Game 1.
Streaks & Stats
The Blues are still 15-3-2 dating to March 28, including 6-1-1 at home. The lone outright home loss was to Vegas in a meaningless regular-season finale. Despite getting stymied offensively in Game 2, St. Louis has still tallied at least four goals in 16 of its last 20 games overall and seven of eight at home. On the downside, St. Louis is just 3-9 in the playoffs since winning the Cup in June 2019.
The Wild are now 20-3-3 in their last 26 games. They closed the season going 5-1-4 in their last 10 road games. Two of those overtime defeats were at St. Louis (4-3 on April 8; 6-5 on April 16). Minnesota eliminated the Blues in the first round of the 2016 playoffs with consecutive 4-1 wins in Games 5 and 6. In 33 postseason games since, the Wild have won back-to-back contests just once (Games 5 and 6 in the opening round against Vegas last year).
Betting Nuggets
The Game 2 result snapped St. Louis’ six-game winning streak against the Wild. The Blues are still 14-4 in the last 18 series clashes, never losing consecutive meetings during that stretch. … The home team has won six of the last eight head-to-head clashes. … Minnesota is 12-28 in its last 40 playoff games as an underdog, while St. Louis is 2-6 in its last eight postseason contests as a favorite. … The Over is 20-7-1 in the Blues’ last 28 overall, 4-1 in their last five at home, 8-2 in the last 10 Blues-Wild battles, and 4-1 in the last five series meetings in Minnesota.
Game 3 Best Bet
Blues -125 (moneyline).
Blues vs Wild Odds and Action
UPDATE 3:50 P.M. ET FRIDAY: St. Louis has dialed back from a -131 favorite for Game 3 to -125 at PointsBet USA. Despite that odds split, 63% of all tickets and 80% of all dollars at PointsBet are on the Blues. The total is holding at 6.5, but the juice has flattened out from Under -115 to -110 both ways. PointsBet bettors favor the Over to the tune of 55% bets/65% cash.
UPDATE 12:30 P.M. ET FRIDAY: The Blues were installed as a -115 Game 3 favorite at PointsBet USA roughly 24 hours ago, but those odds have since risen to -120, -125 and now -131. The Wild are +110 on the take-back. The puckline dipped from an opener of St. Louis +210/Minnesota -263 to St. Louis +190/Minnesota -236.
The total opened at 6.5 (Under -120) and remained there until adjusting to 6.5 (Under -115) nearly two hours ago.
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