As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, the luck of the Irish isn’t the one luck on folks’s minds.
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Take the Minnesota Wild, for instance. They’re hoping for one thing totally different: puck luck.
Puck luck describes when a bounce or a deflection goes precisely your manner. It is when the hockey gods reward a participant and a group for displaying all the proper habits.
It is also one thing that Wild coach John Hynes is considering as his group prepares to face off towards the St. Louis Blues on Saturday evening in Saint Paul, Minn.
“The way we’ve decided to look at it is, ‘OK, the puck’s not going into the net easy for us,'” Hynes mentioned. “But are we generating chances? Are we getting outplayed and then not getting any offense? No, that’s not the case.
“We’re taking part in some actually good hockey, however we’re not getting the bounces. We’re not getting any puck luck.”
The Wild will try to break out of their scoring funk against the Blues, who also are eager for a bounce-back performance. St. Louis is winless in its past two games after losing 2-1 in overtime against the Los Angeles Kings on March 8 and falling short 5-3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Blues forward Zachary Bolduc said he and his teammates know it is crucial to try to collect points in each game as the regular season winds down. St. Louis is one of several clubs that is in the mix for a wild-card playoff berth but currently sits on the outside looking in.
“Each sport is vital for us,” Bolduc said. “I believe our mentality was good . We did not quit.”
Robert Thomas leads the Blues with 52 factors in 54 video games. Jordan Kyrou has tallied 50 factors in 66 video games, and Dylan Holloway is third with 48 factors in 66 video games.
Matt Boldy is the Wild’s high scorer with 55 factors in 66 video games. Marco Rossi is shut behind with 53 factors in 66 video games, and the injured Kirill Kaprizov has 52 factors over 37 video games.
The Blues may flip to Jordan Binnington or Joel Hofer in web. Binnington is 20-21-4 with a 2.83 goals-against common and an .897 save proportion in 46 video games, and Hofer is 11-7-3 with a 2.87 GAA and a .900 save proportion in 25 video games.
Minnesota’s selections in web embrace Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury. Gustavsson is 25-14-4 with a 2.57 GAA and a .915 save proportion in 44 video games, and Fleury is 12-8-1 with a 2.72 GAA and a .904 save proportion in 22 video games.
That is the fourth and ultimate matchup of the common season between the Central Division groups. Minnesota has gained every of the primary three video games by a mixed rating of 14-7.
In the latest matchup Jan. 7, the Wild surged for a 6-4 win at dwelling. Marcus Johansson and Jacob Middleton every recorded a aim and an help for the Wild, and Thomas and Kyrou had been two of 4 gamers to attain for the Blues.
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