Andrey SenchenkoSport correspondentAll materialsEmail to the author The Minnesota Wild took the lead in the first-round series of the playoffs of the National Hockey League (NHL), beating the St. Louis Blues on the road. Kirill Kaprizov was recognized as the best player of the meeting, who scored two points and became a co-author of the club record. The first two matches of the series between St. Louis and Minnesota in the first round of the Western Conference NHL playoffs left an ambiguous impression. Both games were strikingly different from each other: if in the opening meeting, the Blues did not leave a stone unturned from the opponent, then in the second match, the Wild had already walked over the opponent. That's why it was not clear how to evaluate this confrontation, what to expect from him in the future and who should be considered at least somewhat a favorite. The third match confused the cards even more, because now the teams showed an absolutely equal game. If something showed a clear advantage of one of the clubs, it was only in power techniques: in this component, “St. Louis” significantly surpassed the “savages” (33:17). Otherwise, the opponents regularly exchanged dangerous and not very attacks right up to the final segment of the game. The key point was only their implementation, which succeeded, “Minnesota”.
