3 Keys: Blues at Wild, Game 1 of Western First Round

(2C) Wild vs. (3C) Blues

Western Conference First Round, Game 1

9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, TVAS2, BSN, BSWI, BSMW

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

Fleury was in the traditional starter’s crease at the morning skate and the first goalie off the ice, two telltale signs in determining the starter. Cam Talbot stayed on for extra work.

Wild coach Dean Evason did not commit to a starter following the skate.

“Well, we talked before that it’s not a tough decision,” Evason said. “Right? It’s an easy decision because we feel both are more than capable of starting for us here. So we’re excited about the opportunity to have both guys available if we need it, and we probably will.”

Fleury, acquired in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks on March 21, is 9-2-0 with a 2.74 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 11 games since joining the Wild. He’s 90-70 in 162 NHL postseason games, won the Stanley Cup three times with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2009, 2016, 2017) and went to the Stanley Cup Final two more times, most recently with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in 2018.

Talbot, the No. 1 goalie for most of the season, has earned at least a point in each of his past 16 starts (13-0-3). He went 32-12-4 with a 2.76 GAA and .911 save percentage in 49 games (48 starts).

Goalie Ville Husso will start for the Blues. Jordan Binnington, the starter during the run to the 2019 Stanley Cup championship, will back up.

Husso went 25-7-6 with a 2.56 GAA and .919 save percentage in 40 games (38 starts). Binnington was 18-14-4 with a 3.13 GAA and .901 save percentage in 37 games (37 starts), 9-8-1 with a 3.45 GAA and .891 save percentage in 19 games since Jan. 1.

Teams that win Game 1 are 499-228 (68.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 6-2 in the first round last season.

Here are 3 keys for Game 1:

1. Be special

With the Blues and Wild being so close in almost every facet, special teams could be the difference.

Heading into the series, St. Louis holds a clear edge, particularly on the power play. The Blues set a St. Louis record for power-play success at 27.0 percent, the second-best percentage in the NHL behind the Toronto Maple Leafs (27.3 percent). Minnesota’s penalty kill has struggled for much of the season and finished at 76.1 percent, 25th in the NHL and the worst among the 16 playoff teams.

“I think it’s great that we have two units that compete against each other,” Blues center Ryan O’Reilly said. “We are both confident that we can get the job done. To have two units like that with that intensity, it creates an advantage that leads to success in the regular season and the playoffs.”

St. Louis also holds the advantage when Minnesota is on the power play. The Wild were 20.5 percent with the man-advantage (18th); the Blues were 84.1 percent on the penalty kill (fifth).

2. Control the neutral zone

Though each team is dynamic offensively, scoring a combined 28 goals in three games against each other during the regular season, Game 1 and the series could be won in the neutral zone.

Whomever better slows down the other from entering the attacking zone with speed will gain an upper hand.

“End plays early,” Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton said. “They get really good movement in the offensive zone, so if we can kind of slow them down through the neutral zone and not let then get set up and moving around in the offensive zone, that’s going to be a key to success for us.”

3. Embrace the pain

The playoffs are a physical grind at any time, but when two division rivals get together and each holds physicality and forechecking as hallmarks of their game, things can get, and stay, painful in short order.

“It’s fun right? You want to feel the pain,” Evason said. “The bumps and bruises mean you have done what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to compete. You are supposed to feel sore after a game. If you do the right things and play the right way, you will be sore after every game. That’s why we are not playing back to backs, because it is too difficult. The intensity level is ramped right up.”

Blues projected lineup

Brandon Saad — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou

Alexei Toropchenko — Tyler Bozak — Nathan Walker

Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko

Torey Krug — Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola — Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso

Jordan Binnington

Scratched: Calle Rosen, Dakota Joshua, Logan Brown

Injured: Mackenzie MacEachern (upper body) Marco Scandella (lower body)

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello

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

Cam Talbot

Scratched: Nick Bjugstad, Connor Dewar, Alex Goligoski, Jordie Benn

Injured: None

Status report

Scandella, a defenseman who has skated the past four days, will miss his second straight game. … Zuccarello returns after missing three games because of a lower-body injury. … Foligno will play after leaving during the first period of a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on April 29 with a lower-body injury.