Yes, the odds are still firmly in the Wild's column at this point to end up being the Vegas Golden Knights' first-round opponent. They have a game in hand on St. Louis. Also, after they play the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night, the Blues have a brutal three-game stretch (Colorado, Winnipeg, and Edmonton)That'll likely put more weight toward Minnesota's game in hand.
However, we're talking about a 10-game winning streak and a sense of dominance that bears paying attention. That momentum on both ends of the ice is worth worrying about, especially given the gritty OT win last night against the Red Wings. There are some bits of encouragement to tack on to. But from a Vegas perspective, starting (and in some ways ending) with the man in net for the Blues.
Good News: The streakiness of Jordan Binnington
It's a feature that pops up in the regular season throughout Binnington's time as a starter. He starts low in October (7-10-2 the last three seasons), course-corrects in November (16-12-2 the last three seasons), gets ugly again during the holiday months (21-18-4 in December and January the last three seasons). As the weather gets hot, so does he. Last season, he was 6-3-1 in March. Then the needle went down with the Blues' playoff chances that season.
This also tacks on to his playoff career. After his magical 2019 Cup run, Jordan Binnington went 0-8 with a 4.38 GAA and an .875 save percentage. He did right himself a little in his last trip to the postseason in 2022-2023. But it just hammers the type of streakiness that Vegas can, with the offensive arsenal they still have to work with, take advantage of in a seven game matchup.
Bad News: The streakiness of Jordan Binnington (4 Nations version)
Has there been a player in the league this season who's benefited as much from the existence of the 4 Nations Tournament than Jordan Binnington? Look at his last start before the tournament and his first immediately after he helped Team Canada win the championship.
On February 8 against Chicago, he gave up five goals on 26 shots and needed a late comeback and Radek Faksa in the shootout to eke out a 6-5 win. Two weeks later, on February 23 against Colorado, he gave up one first-period goal on 29 shots to beat the Avalanche 3-1. From there, the sky was the limit: 13-2-1, 2.13 GAA, and a .914 save percentage.
There's another player connected to this hot streak who was traded to the Blues back in December: Cam Fowler. He has scored three of his nine goals this season since the Colorado game, along with 13 assists and a +11. The lone comfort here is that he hasn't played the Golden Knights particularly well in his career (two goals, 12 assists, and a -25 in 31 career games). But as well as he's playing now these past few months...it's a small comfort.
Like with the first part, a lot of the ease or hardship for the Golden Knights in a hypothetical series will depend on how healthy Tomas Hertl and Alex Pietrangelo are. Vegas should have more than enough to get through to the next round. Unlike Minnesota, with the way the Blues are playing right now, the chances of this series going the full seven games are higher than some may think.
Basically, to sum thigs up in two words: Go Wild!