The Minnesota Wild were dominant on home ice during the regular season , taking 21 of 27 games. The .786 home winning percentage was the highest in the franchise’s 20-year history.
But the Wild were anything but comfortable at the Xcel Energy Center on Thursday as Vegas controlled play after the first period for 5-2 win in a Game 3 matchup of their opening round Stanley Cup playoff series.
In fact, its opponents who have made themselves at home in St. Paul in the postseason lately.
Minnesota has dropped 10 of its last 14 postseason games it has hosted since 2015. That includes three losses to St. Louis an opening round matchup in 2017 when the Wild, who had the home-ice advantage, lost the series in five games.
The Wild have been held to two or fewer goals in seven of the matchups during that run.
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The last year Minnesota had a winning record at home in the playoffs? That was 2014 when the Wild went 5-1 in St. Paul against Colorado and Chicago. The Wild has a 14-21 in the postseason mark overall at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild will try and stop the recent trend in Game 4 on Saturday night. and tie the best-of- series before the teams return to Las Vegas on Monday. The Wild, who won Game 1, are one of three teams in the NHL that didn’t have a three-game skid during the regular season.
Minnesota’s all-time record in Game 4 matchups is 4-10.
“There’s a lot of excitement for the game tonight,” team captain and defenseman Jared Spurgeon said during amedia availability session on Saturday. “Playing a home game to tie the series up so there was a lot of energy in the skate this morning. It was nice to get that mental and physical break (on Friday), just get away from the rink and recoup and start thinking about tonight’s game.”
Focused.#DeterMNation pic.twitter.com/TPaj8DU8vM
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) May 22, 2021
Parise, Rau appear set for series debut
The Wild seem to be making lineup changes for Game 4, due in part to the loss of Marcus Johannson to a broken arm he suffered in the first period of Game 3.
A number of Wild beat writers reported on Saturday morning that both Zach Parise and Kyle Rau would get the nod.
Rau has appeared in one postseason game in his five -year NHL career, and Parise is one of most experienced players on the Wild roster.
Parise has played in 101 postseason games in his 16 year career and is the Wild’s all-time leader in playoff scoring (77 points), goals (35), assists (42) and power-play goals.
Zach Parise, Kyle Rau likely to play for #mnwild in Game 4 vs. #VGK: https://t.co/7zgSJfWlY6
— Sarah McLellan (@sarah__mclellan) May 22, 2021
Getting physical
– The Wild rank third in the league with 148 hits during the playoffs. Minnesota and Vegas have combined for 297 hits through three games, which is the most for a series this postseason. Minnesota had a franchise-best 71 hits in Game 1.
Marcus Foligno leads the team with 21 hits so far and has combined with linemates Jordan Greenway and Joel Erikkson-Ek for 62 in the series.
– The Wild also lead the NHL in both blocked shots (67) and blocked shots per game (21.9) in the playoffs. Defenseman Matt Dumba set a franchise record with eight blocked shots in Game 2.