The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues meet Friday in game 3 of the West First Round NHL Playoffs at the Enterprise Center. The Minnesota Wild look for back-to-back wins to take a 2-1 series lead. The St. Louis Blues look to keep home ice and take a 2-1 series lead.

The Minnesota Wild are averaging 3 goals per game and are scoring on 22.2 percent of their power play opportunities. Kirill Kaprizov leads Minnesota with 3 goals, Jonas Brodin has 2 assists and Joel Eriksson Ek has 9 shots on goal. Defensively, the Minnesota Wild are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 72.7 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Marc-Andre Fleury has given up 6 goals on 65 shots faced.

The St. Louis Blues are averaging 3 goals per game and are scoring on 27.3 percent of their power play opportunities. David Perron leads St. Louis with 3 goals, Tobey Krug has 3 assists, and Ryan O’Reilly has 7 shots on goal. Defensively, the St. Louis Blues are allowing 3 goals per game and are killing 77.8 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Ville Husso has given up 5 goals on 64 shots faced.

The Wild are 5-1 in their last 6 games playing on 1 days rest and 20-6 in their last 26 overall. The Blues are 6-2 in their last 8 home games and 13-4 in their last 17 overall. The over is 9-4-1 in Wild last 14 Friday games. The over is 20-7-1 in Blues last 28 overall. The Wild are 8-20 in the last 28 meetings in St. Louis.

This series is likely going to be back and forth and one of the more competitive series in the first round. The Wild and the cheap price is attractive given how they were priced all year, but the Blues at home is a different beast. The Blues have also won 13 of the last 16 meetings against the Wild and six of the last seven meetings. Game two was the first time since May 2021 the Wild have beaten the Blues. Give me the home team here to take a 2-1 series lead.