Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 3 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/6/2022

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Western Conference First Round, Game 3 -- Series tied 1-1

Time: 9:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO

Where to watch: TNT, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Wisconsin, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Blues -120, Wild +100

BetMGM: Blues -120, Wild +100

Caesars: Blues -120, Wild +100

In the craziness and hoopla surrounding Game 2 of the Minnesota Wild-St. Louis Blues series, one question remained unanswered: Did everyone get a refund on hats for their premature hat tossing, or are Wild fans left wondering such ridiculous tomfoolery?

What’s actual tomfoolery is the Minnesota Wild storming back in an emphatic way, winning 6-2 in Game 2 over the St. Louis Blues to even the best-of-7 series at a game apiece.

Game 3 and the series shifts to St. Louis on Friday.

Joel Eriksson Ek did not have a hat trick, which is why the fans threw their hats onto the ice, but later got their money’s worth with Kirill Kaprizov officially recording the first hat trick in Wild history on Wednesday.

"To be honest, I didn't want to change anything from Game 1 (a 4-0 loss)," Kaprizov said. "I even think in Game 1 there were some chances that didn't go in for us. So in Game 2, just try to stick to the same recipe, do the same thing, and obviously things worked out. So really just trying not to focus on it too much. Just play the game."

The Wild not only rebounded to get the offense going, but Marc-Andre Fleury also responded with 32 saves and Eriksson Ek finished with two goals.

"You've got to be at the right place at the right time," Eriksson Ek said. "You can't say that everything is luck. It's about being on the inside and being on the right side of guys and getting to those loose pucks."

The Blues did what they needed to do in Game 1 by stealing home-ice advantage, but poor Ville Husso allowed six goals on 28 shots and completely erased the adventure he had in Game 1 for a shutout in his first NHL start.

"Yeah, a couple bad breaks," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "That's the way it goes. Our guys competed all 60 minutes, played hard. You've got to try and find a way to get some second and third opportunities around the paint a little bit more, and Fleury made some big saves."

The crazy thing is Fleury didn’t even play badly in Game 1. The Blues had plenty of power-play opportunities and were able to capitalize on them. The Minnesota penalty kill was much better this time around and kept the Blues out of the net.

"We talked after [Game 1 about] what he's going to have to do, or what are we going to have to do, to free [Kaprizov] up," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "We're not going to have to do anything. He's just going to do what he does. He's just going to play hard. Sure, he's got two, three people around him, they're trying to hit him. He's just going to play through it. He just stays the course, just goes about his business. It shouldn't surprise. … He takes it as a big challenge, and he did tonight and had a great game."

Much like the Tampa-Toronto series, everything is pretty much a wash after the first two games. Goaltending travels, and experienced goaltending travels. Going to Fleury again, I have no doubt he’ll rise to the challenge and get this victory. Wild win 4-2

Wild are 8-0 after two straight division games this season.

Wild are 25-6 after a home win this season.

Blues are 15-12 after a division game this season.

Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Nick Bjugstad

Kevin Fiala -- Frederick Gaudreau -- Matt Boldy

Jordan Greenway -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Marcus Foligno

Nicolas Deslauriers -- Tyson Jost -- Brandon Duhaime

Jacob Middleton -- Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin -- Matt Dumba

Jon Merrill -- Dmitry Kulikov

Marc-Andre Fleury

Blues:

Brandon Saad -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev -- Tyler Bozak -- Jordan Kyrou

Alexei Toropchenko -- Logan Brown -- Nathan Walker

Torey Krug -- Colton Parayko

Nick Leddy -- Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola -- Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso