ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild have a chance to eliminate the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a win in Game 6 Sunday at Xcel Energy Center, so Wild coach Mike Yeo had some advice for the fans.

Since it’s a 2 p.m. CT/3 p.m. ET puck drop, Yeo hopes the hometown crowd is prepped and ready to go.

“Hopefully, our fans are having a couple of Bloody Marys with breakfast, get in the right frame of mind,” Yeo said with a laugh.

In all seriousness, this is the first time in franchise history the Wild hold a 3-2 series lead with a chance to close it out. And since goaltender Devan Dubnyk's arrival via trade with the Arizona Coyotes in January, the Wild have not lost consecutive games in regulation.

This series has been so unpredictable due to the back-and-forth momentum swings. Still, the Wild aren't about to take the Blues lightly, especially after St. Louis dismantled Minnesota 6-1 on home ice in Game 4. In order to give themselves a chance to advance, the Wild need a showing similar to their impressive 4-1 road win in Game 5 Friday at Scottrade Center.

“We know what we’re up against here still,” Yeo said. “They didn’t win their division by accident. That team is a very proud group, so we’re ready for a hard game [today].”

Talk about killing an opponent with kindness.

Any team’s confidence would be high when its goalie is playing as well as Dubnyk is. His 36-save performance was crucial for the Wild’s Game 5 victory. This is his first taste in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but he’s playing like he’s been in this situation before and it will be interesting to see how he reacts on Sunday.

Yeo has no doubts about his 28-year-old goaltender.

"It's not like he’s a young kid," Yeo said. "He’s been through these things. Obviously, the stage is bigger and the emotions might be a little bit higher in certain situations, but he’s been through some difficult times and being able to get out of those difficult times is something that he can draw on. Experience always comes in different forms. Even though he doesn’t have a ton of playoff experience, he has a ton of experience to draw from."

The one-game-at-a-time mentality might sound boring, but that’s how the Wild have reached this point of the season. In an elimination game, Minnesota needs to have more of a killer instinct.

"You’ve got to live in the moment," said Wild defenseman Jordan Leopold. “One of the toughest things to do is close out a series. They’re going to bring their best game. They’re going to be scratching and clawing to try to tie this thing up. We have to bring our best game, too. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about that.”

The Blues practiced in St. Louis Saturday before taking the one-hour flight to Minnesota in preparation for Game 6. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said after Game 5 that he was pleased with his team’s effort, but it needed to finish its quality scoring chances. St. Louis needs to find a way to beat Dubnyk or its season will end prematurely.

Fortunately for the Blues, they were one of the best road teams in the league during the regular season with a 24-12-5 record.

“The last thing Minnesota wants to do is have this thing come back to our building,” Hitchcock said. “That’s the last thing they want. We’ve got to make sure they get to look that in the eye. That’s our goal: Just bring it home.”

Added the Blues’ Jaden Schwartz, “Well, certainly tomorrow's game is going to have to be our best. Our season's on the line, really, plain and simple. We have to do everything we can to bring it back here and that's going to be our mentality and leave everything out there and have no excuses at the end of the game.”

The Blues’ ability to have a short memory will be tested on Sunday. Despite finishing with the top seed in the Central Division with 109 points, St. Louis didn’t think the wild-card Wild would be an easy opponent.

“We knew it was going to be a tight series,” Blues forward Alexander Steen told reporters after practice. “This is playoffs, playoff hockey. Things aren’t just going to go easy. Right now we’re down 3-2, but we’re heading into Minny and we want to bring this series back. That’s our focus. We just focus on the next game.”

The Wild’s focus is to eliminate St. Louis. The Blues are trying to survive and force Game 7 Wednesday back in St. Louis.

“We worked to put ourselves in a good situation to hopefully close out the series. We don’t want to be going back to St. Louis,” Dubnyk said. “You don’t want to be in a situation where it’s win or go home. We’ve got a chance to close it [Sunday] and we need to do that.”