Yikes, eh?

Wild are feeling the "Blues" for sure, again.

Yeah, wasn't pretty last night

Minnesota if the Wild didn't have to play the Blues in the playoffs every year.

Kinda like the Twinkies versus the Yankees in the playoffs, Twinks always lose big...

Now that's how you come back from a Game 1 drubbing....

I've adopted the Wild as my NHL playoff interest because my Red Wings suck.

@"pattersaur" said:

Minnesota if the Wild didn't have to play the Blues in the playoffs every year.

There was a run of the Blackhawks being their playoff Yankees a few years back iirc. 

@"StickyBun" said: Now that's how you come back from a Game 1 drubbing....

I've adopted the Wild as my NHL playoff interest because my Red Wings suck.

That was a crazy fun game, and it was great that Flower was in goal again after the game 1 drubbing.  The Blues are just a big, fast, skilled, hard hitting team that matches up well against star players like Fiala and Krill.
We'll see what happens on the road, but that win was a big one for Minny.

That was a fun one on Blues home ice - Go Wild!

Wooooeee, kicked some ass.

I think the Wild are going to take this series pretty quick.  Game 1 was a young team not read to play a veteran playoff experienced team

Smart play. Not taking stupid penalties, not rising to the bait from the Blues. Goaltending, offense, defense and special teams playing well. Greenway has come a long way. GREEF line is phenomenal. Of course we all know what Kaprizov can do. Brodin, Spurgeon and Dumba stepping up. Schenn and Perron with the cheap shots. Krug hurt himself trying to deliver a hit. LFG!

No close games in this series. Almost all the other playoff matchups currently stand at 2-2 as well. In fact, no close games at all yesterday in the 4 games played. Weird. 

Why is the game tonight 9:30 pm Eastern??

@"StickyBun" said: No close games in this series. Almost all the other playoff matchups currently stand at 2-2 as well. In fact, no close games at all yesterday in the 4 games played. Weird. 

Very few close games in the first round in general. Agreed. Weird. And a bummer for a casual fan like me but I’m sure these playoffs will heat up like always. 

Weird series. Probably the best Wild team in a long time and might lose in the first round.

@"StickyBun" said: Weird series. Probably the best Wild team in a long time and might lose in the first round.

Hockey has their playoffs screwed up.  These are the #2 and #3 teams in their conference and they play each other in the first round when 8 teams from the conference make it.  This should be a final or semifinal match up. 

@"purplefaithful" said:

kind of how I feel as well.  for them to take the last 2 when they have been shamed twice at home already seems highly unlikely.

The Blues are just a better team. Wild have Kaprizov. I agree on the stupid seeding. The excuse for years was after the shuffling of conferences and expansion that this division seeding would create better rivalries. I think it is long past that and time to go back to the traditional 1 vs 8 and so on and so forth.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The statistics tell you that when a best-of-7 series is tied two games apiece, the winner of Game 5 goes on to win the series more than 79 percent of the time.
With that in mind, advantage St. Louis. Getting a third period hat trick from Vladimir Tarasenko – including two huge goals early in the period - the Blues erased a 2-1 Minnesota lead for a 5-2 victory before a loud and sold out crowd at Xcel Energy Center.
As a result, the Blues are now just one victory away from erasing the Wild in this series, with Game 6 on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
Just when you thought the Blues had no answer for Kirill "The Thrill" Kaprizov, who scored both Minnesota goals on first period power plays, Tarasenko stepped up and said: I got this. The hat trick was his second in postseason play and seventh overall as an NHL player.
Read the full story.

• This has been a thrilling series, but why, exactly, are two of the top four teams in the Western Conference playing in the first round?