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Blues host sliding Wild in home-and-home finale

Mar 29, 2011 - 3:33 PM (Sports Network) - The Blues put an emphatic end to the Wild's playoff hopes in the opener of this home-and-home set on Saturday. St. Louis now gets a chance to avenge a pair of February losses to Minnesota this evening when the two clubs conclude their set at Scottrade Center.

The Blues' 6-3 victory over the Wild stretched Minnesota's winless streak to eight straight games. The Wild have been shut out three times over that 0-7-1 stretch and outscored 37-12.

Now 12 points back of a playoff spot, the Wild held a closed-door meeting following Friday's loss, but did not provide details of what was said.

"I feel for the fans," Minnesota forward John Madden said afterward. "I've never missed the playoffs, so for me this stinks. To go out like this really stinks."

St. Louis, meanwhile, picked up its second straight victory after losses in four of five, getting a goal and an assist from both David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo. Matt D'Agostini, Adam Cracknell, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund also scored.

Ty Conklin faced just 16 shots, stopping 13 of them for the Blues, who rallied from an early 2-1 hole by scoring five straight goals.

"Our defensemen did a pretty good job of stalling their rushes," said Backes.

St. Louis, which is one point behind Minnesota in the standings, has won three of its last four at home and is likely to go back to Jaroslav Halak in net tonight. He is 0-1-1 in two starts versus the Wild with a 4.50 goals-against average.

The Blues' victory on Friday snapped a three-game series losing streak that included the Wild sweeping a home-and-home set on Feb. 11-12. Minnesota opened that series with a 5-4 shootout victory in St. Louis, getting a game-tying goal from Martin Havlat and a shootout winner from Madden in snapping a four- game slide at Scottrade Center.

Antti Miettinen had two goals for the Wild on Friday and Mark Zidlicky scored in his return from a four-game absence due to a hamstring injury.

Niklas Backstrom was peppered with 47 shots and he stopped 41 of them as the Wild wrapped a winless four-game homestand and will now try to snap a four- game skid on the road.

Backstrom fell to 6-6-0 with a 2.65 GAA versus the Blues and is expected to get a rest tonight in favor of Jose Theodore, who is 2-5-1 with a 4.14 GAA in his career against St. Louis.

Minnesota forwards Mikko Koivu and Chuck Kobasew both sat out practice on Monday, but head coach Todd Richards said it was just a maintenance day for the duo and both are expected to play tonight.

The Blues, though, could be without forward T.J. Oshie after he missed morning practice on Monday. The 24-year-old's absence was unexcused and could lead to him being a healthy scratch tonight.

Forward Vladimir Sobotka could replace Oshie in the lineup. Sobotka has been out since suffering a foot injury on Feb. 27.