Minnesota Wild coach Bruce Boudreau cautioned his team in the hours leading up to Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. He knew with the NHL all-star weekend right around the corner, there was a potential for a letdown.

Heck, the 62-year-old coach already had seen it play out twice this week as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks — two top-tier teams — both came out flat in the days leading up to the break and promptly got blown out.

“We have to make sure … we’re not like that,” Boudreau said. “It’s going to be a tough game, and if we’re not at our best, they’re going to come in here and take it to us.” Related Articles End of an era: Wild won’t re-sign longtime captain Mikko Koivu

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Well, the Wild were at their best, especially Nino Niederreiter, as they coasted to a dominant 5-1 win over the Blues to enter the break in style.

“It was definitely big for us,” Niederreiter said. “We knew we wanted to go into the break with a good feeling.”

It was indeed a nice feeling for the Wild, who enter the unofficial midway point to the season with 69 points. They are firmly in the driver’s seat in the Western Conference, as well as four points clear of the second-place Chicago Blackhawks in the Central Division.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Niederreiter said. “I personally haven’t been in a situation like that in a long time. … It’s fun to be in the hunted seed.”

Niederreiter finished the night with a team-high three points, making huge contributions on a pair of goals midway through the game and scoring a goal of his own late. He is now fourth on the team with 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists), as he continues to prove himself as an integral piece to the future of the franchise.

It wasn’t only Niederrieter, as every line scored for the Wild en route to the rout.

“I thought that was our most complete game in a long time,” Boudreau said.

In the wake of a sleepy first period, Erik Haula gave the Wild the lead 23 seconds into the second, burying a shot from the left circle after a pretty pass from Zach Parise. That marked 10 goals on the season for Haula as the Wild have a league-leading seven players with 10 or more goals.

Blues right winger Vladimir Tarasenko leveled the score a few minutes later as Marco Scandella and Matt Dumba fell asleep on the back end. That allowed the Russian sniper to slip unnoticed behind enemy lines before beating Devan Dubnyk five hole.

In that moment, something clicked inside Niederreiter — and he took over.

While he won’t get credited for Tyler Graovac’s goal, which proved to be the game-winner, or Mikko Koivu’s goal, which proved to be the backbreaker, those goals simply don’t happen without Niederreiter.

Graovac snapped a 16-game goal-less drought midway through the second period after Niederreiter weaved in and out of traffic before dishing a puck. It wasn’t pretty as Graovac actually used his skate, not his stick, to score.

“That really was a lucky goal,” Graovac said. “All the credit goes to (Niederreiter) on getting me that goal.”

Niederreiter was back at it in the waning seconds of the second period, as he fought like hell to pilfer the puck to set up as sequence that ended with Koivu chipping a shot past Blues backup goaltender Carter Hutton. Mikael Granlund also got an assist on that goal as he continued his career-long, nine-game point streak.

“We knew we had to find a way to get the next goal,” Niederrieter said. “I tried to outwork the guy and outmuscle the guy to keep the puck alive. We found a way to score.”

Niederreiter finally got rewarded with a goal of his own in the opening minutes of the third period with a twisted wrist shot that absolutely fooled Hutton.

That was the dagger, in Boudreau’s opinion.

“We came out and it was a relatively weak goal,” Boudreau said. “I think their shoulders slumped and that was it.”

Granlund added insult to injury less than a minute later with a goal that ultimately chased Hutton, forcing starting goaltender Jake Allen into action on his assumed night off.

👏 Mikael Granlund with his 12th of the season. #STLvsMIN pic.twitter.com/JaRbryEJ84 — Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 27, 2017

As for Niederreiter, he still thinks there is room to improve as the Wild get some rest and recharge for the home stretch.

“I thought we could’ve been even better,” he said.

Not exactly something the rest of the NHL wants to hear.