Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 6 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/12/2022

Western Conference First Round, Game 6 -- Blues lead 3-2

Time: 9:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

Where to watch: TNT, Bally Sports Wisconsin Extra, Bally Sports North, Bally Sports Midwest

DraftKings: Even

BetMGM: Even

Caesars: Even

The Jordan Binnington effect appears to be a real thing. Shame on me for thinking otherwise, because the St. Louis Blues are a win away from putting forth one of the more unreal series victories in recent memory.

The Blues won Game 5 of their best-of-7 series against the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Tuesday and can knock out the perceived favorites at home in Enterprise Center with one more win on Thursday.

Vladimir Tarasenko, who has already risen from the dead, has become a full-on angel with the intent to strike fear in the hearts of man after his natural hat trick in the third period. Binnington made 30 saves, and suddenly it looks like 2019 again with the Blues.

"Our team is built to go deep into games and deep into playoffs and deep into the series," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "You know, that's where we're at. Today was a good example. We're down 2-1 and we went out and capitalized and got it done."

The Blues have turned it around since Game 3. Poor Ville Husso just wasn’t ready for primetime. In a must-win situation, Binnington has proven once again to be that guy. He might not care about the regular season, but he appears to be a destroyer of worlds yet again when it matters most.

"I think our third period there was kind of our identity," Blues forward Brandon Saad said after he scored in this game. "I think we got better as the game went on. … But yeah, you see our third period, being simple, going north, kind of just getting on the forecheck, making them come 200 feet. Early on, we kind of let them play half ice or two-thirds ice, and they were getting rush chances. I think we tightened it up as we went along, and we're happy to close that out."

The Blues made the switch in goal, and suddenly they have new life. Not only that, but Binnington was able to settle down after Kirill Kaprizov scored twice to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead. More importantly, the Blues have been able to figure out Marc-Andre Fleury at the right time, with one wondering if Cam Talbot would be any better in this situation.

"The goal isn't for a player to play well," Kaprizov said. "The goal is for the team to play well, and we didn't win. Ultimately, that's what we play for. We have a chance to make some changes to get the series back home for Game 7, and that's what we have to do."

The Wild held a 2-1 lead with all the momentum after a dominant Game 3 win, and now they have to go to a hostile environment and win on the road after being blitzed in back-to-back games. Not really a fan of their chances.

If you’re the Wild, you’re just hoping to get one vintage Fleury performance if he goes back in. I firmly believe he can do it, and I’m going down with this ship. I won’t put my hands up and surrender. For you Dido fans, you’re welcome. Wild win 3-2

Blues are 18-9 off a home win this season.

Blues are 47-32 the past three seasons off a win by two goals or more.

Wild are 9-2 this season after two straight division games.

Wild are 2-8 off a road loss by two goals or more this season.

Wild:

Kirill Kaprizov -- Ryan Hartman -- Nick Bjugstad

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

Blues:

Brandon Saad -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Ivan Barbashev -- Tyler Bozak -- Jordan Kyrou

Alexei Toropchenko -- Logan Brown -- Nathan Walker

Torey Krug -- Colton Parayko

Nick Leddy -- Justin Faulk

Niko Mikkola -- Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington