The St. Louis Blues look to continue their recent offensive surge when they face the Minnesota Wild in a Central Division matchup Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
After scoring a total of five goals in three straight losses (one in overtime), the Blues logged 12 goals while winning their past two games, including a 7-2 rout of the host Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
The Wild had won two straight before taking a 5-2 road loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
In Ottawa, Pius Suter and Mason McTavish each had two goals and an assist for the Blues. Jake Neighbours also scored twice, rookie Adam Jiricek had his first NHL goal, and Pavel Buchnevich had three assists. Joel Hofer made 16 saves.
The Senators pulled within 2-1 late in the second period, but McTavish scored 33 seconds later, and Ottawa got no closer.
“It was a great team effort,” Hofer said postgame. “You know, we stuck to our game plan, kept it simple, and yeah, we got rewarded tonight. It was good to see.”
McTavish has six points (three goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak, and Neighbours has three goals in his past two games.
St. Louis’ three-game trip concludes at Nashville on Saturday.
“This is a good start for our road trip,” Hofer said. “We wanted to get off to a good start. Two big games coming up here, so it was a good start for us for sure.”
Kirill Kaprizov scored twice in the first period of Minnesota’s loss at Winnipeg. Goalie Calvin Pickard, who signed with Minnesota in the offseason, made 20 saves in his Wild debut.
The Jets pulled ahead 3-2 in the second period and added two tallies in the third.
Kaprizov has eight points (five goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak, including five goals in his past three games. He leads the NHL with eight goals.
“He’s playing fast, he’s skating well, he’s really competing on pucks,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “He’s a highly talented guy that can score, but he’s getting himself in the scoring areas. He’s playing at a high pace. He’s scoring in different ways, which is what you’d like to see.”
Quinn Hughes has a point in all seven games of the Wild’s games and 10 points overall (two goals, eight assists).
Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon (upper-body injury) was a late scratch at Winnipeg. Forward Nico Sturm, who left the Wild’s Monday game against the Vegas Golden Knights after being hit in the head by a shot, was placed on injured reserve.
“I don’t have any updates on where they’re at,” Hynes said of Spurgeon and Sturm. “They were both getting looked at (Tuesday), so I’ll probably have more information later in the week.”
The Wild are home for two games before a five-game Western road trip.
The Blues took two of three from the Wild last season. Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves and Ryan Hartman scored twice in a 5-0 Wild road win on Oct. 9, 2025. On March 1, Hofer stopped 22 shots as St. Louis prevailed 3-1 at Minnesota. Jimmy Snuggerud had a goal and an assist as the host Blues took the final meeting 6-3 on April 13.
–Field Level Media
