In Bruce Boudreau's eyes, the St. Louis Blues — the Wild's first-round playoff opponent — don't really have any weaknesses.
They have one of the best groups of defensemen in the NHL, they have balance on all four lines, a true superstar in Vladimir Tarasenko and a goalie in Jake Allen who has been better than anybody in the league since Mike Yeo, the former Wild coach, took over Feb. 1.
"Even the addition of [Vladimir] Sobotka — he was a great player when he was here last time, that's like a really good trade deadline acquisition or free-agent signing for them," Boudreau said of the scrappy center who scored in his first game back from Russia on Sunday. "It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of pundits pick them over us.
"So our work's cut out for us. But I've seen our team all year and when [we] need to rise to the challenge, I think we will."
After Yeo, who coached the Wild to the playoffs three consecutive years (and into the final eight twice), assumed the head-coaching duties for Ken Hitchcock nine weeks ago, the Blues allowed a league-low 1.88 goals per game (1.53 at even strength), had a league-best .937 save percentage, a league-best 88.8 percent penalty kill and a league-best plus-33 goal differential.
Allen, who had the worst save percentage of any NHL starter under Hitchcock, had a league-best 1.85 goals-against average and .938 save percentage under Yeo and won 11 of his final 15 games (26 goals allowed). He allowed two goals or fewer in 17 of his final 25 starts.
The Blues went 22-8-2 under Yeo (tied with Washington for most points in the NHL), 15-2-2 in their final 19 games.
The world-class Tarasenko tied for fourth in the NHL with 39 goals and tied for ninth with 75 points to become the first Blue since Brett Hull (1995-98) to record 70 points three consecutive seasons.