{"id":137835,"date":"2017-04-10T21:42:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T01:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/?p=137835"},"modified":"2017-04-10T22:40:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-11T02:40:32","slug":"st-louis-blues-vs-minnesota-wild-2017-western-conference-first-round-series-predictions-picks-and-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/st-louis-blues-vs-minnesota-wild-2017-western-conference-first-round-series-predictions-picks-and-preview.html","title":{"rendered":"St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild 2017 Western Conference First Round Series Predictions, Picks and Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/19\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-89566 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/NHL-Banner-1MB.gif\" alt=\"NHL-Banner-1MB\" width=\"620\" height=\"110\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>NHL News and Predictions<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-nhl-draft-winners-and-losers.html\">2017 NHL Draft Winners and Losers<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-nhl-writers-mock-draft-predictions.html\">TopBet Writers\u2019 2017 NHL Mock Draft Projections<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/2017-18-nhl-stanley-cup-futures-odds-update.html\">2017-18 NHL Season Early Stanley Cup Futures Odds<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>St. Louis Blues\u00a0vs. Minnesota Wild\u00a0Series Preview<\/h2>\n<p><strong><em>*<\/em><em>Find the complete\u00a0list of the 2017 NHL\u00a0betting lines<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/sportsbook\/hockey\/nhl\" target=\"_blank\"><em>HERE!<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Series Schedule<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Game 1: <\/strong>April 12, 9:30 p.m., at Minnesota<\/li>\n<li><strong>Game 2: <\/strong>April 14, 8 p.m., at Minnesota<\/li>\n<li><strong>Game 3:\u00a0<\/strong>April 16, 3 p.m., at St. Louis<\/li>\n<li><strong>Game 4: <\/strong>April 19, 9:30 p.m., at St. Louis<\/li>\n<li><strong>*Game 5: <\/strong>April 22, TBD, at Minnesota<\/li>\n<li><strong>*Game 6: <\/strong>April 24, TBD, at St. Louis<\/li>\n<li><strong>*Game 7: <\/strong>April 26, TBD, at Minnesota<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>*IF NECESSARY<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Regular Season Head-to-Head<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Among all the first-round playoff matchups this year, the Blues and the Wild probably had the closest head-to-head battle in the regular season. In three of the five meetings, the winner only won by a single goal.<\/p>\n<p>St. Louis\u00a0took the season series, 3-2, and did it by winning three straight after losing the first two, making\u00a0this postseason showdown fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>Topping all of that is that this is your classic offense versus defense clash, but let&#8217;s just elaborate on that below.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why the Blues\u00a0Will Win the Series<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/sportsbook\/hockey\/2017-nhl-playoff-series-prices\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>+130<\/strong><\/a>)<\/h3>\n<p>The Blues had a big\u00a0turnaround after letting go of coach Ken Hitchcock, who was their second-longest tenured coach in team history. They replaced him with Mike Yeo, who, as you may remember, was also the former coach of the Wild.<\/p>\n<p>Yeo vastly improved the down-and-out defense, and it was the main component as to why the Blues suddenly went 22-8-2 since he took over in February 1st. St. Louis only gave up 1.5 goals per game in their last 32 games, including nine where they allowed one goal or less.<\/p>\n<p>Jake Allen was hot-and-cold before the coaching change, but remained hot after, going 10-2-2 with a .942 save percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Considering the late-season resurgence and their great adjustment in the regular season series with the Wild, there&#8217;s no denying that their great odds for this matchup.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Why the Wild\u00a0Will Win the Series<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/sportsbook\/hockey\/2017-nhl-playoff-series-prices\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>-150<\/strong><\/a>)<\/h3>\n<p>The Wild also have some momentum. There was an alarming\u00a0struggle for the whole March, but they have since recovered and closed out the season winning five of their last six, where they scored four or more goals four\u00a0times.<\/p>\n<p>As one of the most potent offenses in the league,\u00a0they finished the year\u00a0ranking second overall in goals, with 266, which is more than what the powerhouse Washington Capitals had. They had four players score 20-plus goals and three of them also had 30 or more assists.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to that is having the great defense. Among the top five scoring teams in the league, Minnesota is second only to the Capitals in goals against, penalty killing percentage, and save percentage.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Writer&#8217;s Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Blues (<a href=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/sportsbook\/hockey\/2017-nhl-playoff-series-prices\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>+130<\/strong><\/a>) come out on top after seven games.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/6\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Create a betting account now<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0start placing stakes on all the heart-stopping action from the Stanley Cup Playoffs!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/record.tbaffiliate.com\/_y8k7RB3Ll4xutv7iXV6HvmNd7ZgqdRLk\/19\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-89566 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/topbet.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/NHL-Banner-1MB.gif\" alt=\"NHL-Banner-1MB\" width=\"620\" height=\"110\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"pvc_stats all \" data-element-id=\"137835\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> &nbsp;2,286&nbsp;total views, &nbsp;2&nbsp;views today<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St. Louis Blues\u00a0vs. Minnesota Wild\u00a0Series Preview *Find the complete\u00a0list of the 2017 NHL\u00a0betting lines\u00a0HERE! Series Schedule Game 1: April 12, 9:30 p.m., at Minnesota Game 2: April 14, 8 p.m.,<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"pvc_stats all \" data-element-id=\"137835\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> &nbsp;2,286&nbsp;total views, &nbsp;2&nbsp;views today<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":137883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[393,45],"tags":[15336,24439,24440,246,650,715,6251,24465,653,24483,24484,22021,24480,24481,24482,3682,3529,3555,3540,12095,12770],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blues vs Wild 2017 Western Conference Round 1 Series Predictions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Predictions, picks and preview for the 2017 Western Conference First Round Series between St. Louis and Minnesota, from TopBet online sportsbook.\" 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