St. Louis (7-8-2) at Minnesota (11-5-1) 8:00 p.m. EST
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild have not lost
back-to-back home games. They will look to keep that record
intact when they host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Captain Mikko Koivu scored two goals for Minnesota for the first
time since November 13, 2007 on Thursday, but that was all the
offense the team could come up with as they suffered a 3-2 loss
to the Vancouver Canucks that snapped a three-game winning
streak.
The loss dropped the Wild to 5-2-1 at Xcel Energy Center, but
was only their second setback in the last six games overall.
Minnesota has not lost consecutive games in regulation at home
since November 21 and 23, 2007.
Niklas Backstrom, who allowed three goals on Thursday after
surrendering only three tallies during the win streak, has been
a huge part of that success. The Wild goaltender is 11-1-3 with
a 1.53 goals-against average in his last 15 regular-season home
games.
The Blues claimed a 3-2 overtime victory against the Anaheim
Ducks on Friday, earning their second win in three games after
posting an 0-5-1 record during their previous six contests.
Lee Stempniak scored 2:39 into overtime as St. Louis overcame a
game-tying goal with one second left in the third period by the
Ducks.
Trailing 2-1, Anaheim forced the extra session when Scott
Niedermayer capitalized during a 6-on-4 advantage. Corey Perry
was pushed on top of goaltender Manny Legace, who briefly was
immobilized as Niedermayer collected the puck in a crowd and
slid a backhander into the open net.