The St. Louis Blues (16-6-2) defeated the Minnesota Wild (13-9-1) 3-2 after a shootout Saturday night in St. Paul. The Blues flew to Minnesota following an overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers the night before. Similarly the Wild entered the game after their own overtime win in Dallas. Tonight’s win allows the Blues to stay on the heels of the Nashville Predators who currently lead the Central Division.
Recently, the team has been struggling with injuries. Prior to tonight’s game the Blues moved Jay Bouwmeester to the IR, giving call up Chris Butler some extended time on the roster. Due to Brian Elliot’s injury two games back, Jake Allen was given the chance to prove himself with back-to-back starts in the net. Finally, Chris Porter was given a chance to play in place of Steve Ott who was hurt in the game against Edmonton.
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GAME RECAP
The Wild took early control of the game and put a few shots on goal in the first minutes. At 9:45 Marco Scandella was called for a high hit on T.J. Oshie to give the Blues their first power play. The Blues didn’t get much of a chance until the end of the power play which resulted in a scuffle after the whistle. Jori Lehtera was sent to the box for roughing. The Blues cleanly killed the penalty. The teams traded chances with the Blues putting up a strong offensive in the final minutes.
The start of the second period was a lot of the same. By 4:45 during an assault on the net by the Wild, Barret Jackman was called for crosschecking to give Minnesota their second power play. Despite the advantage the Wild couldn’t recreate the pressure and the Blues killed the penalty. Halfway through the period both teams challenged each other although the Wild had more than doubled the Blues in shots. At 10:20 Vladimir Tarasenko broke the stalemate and put the Blues ahead 1-0.
On the next play Chris Porter was called for hooking to put the Blues on their third penalty kill. The Wild played their best of the night, but still couldn’t crack the Blues. After a little more back and forth play Mikko Koivu scored at 14:26 to tie the game at 1. At 15:47 Kevin Shattenkirk was given a five minute major penalty and ejected from the game after boarding Ryan Carver. With 58 seconds left and after a lot of shots, Minnesota took the lead 2-1 after a goal by Zach Parise. The Blues ended the period down by one and some time left of the penalty.
The Blues killed off the rest of the penalty in the third. Mikael Granlund was called for hooking at 1:41 to give the Blues their chance on a power play. Despite a few shots in the last thirty seconds the Blues weren’t too productive on the power play. The Blues picked up their pace and increased their pressure over the next few minutes which became nearly total play control with eight minutes left. At 14:27 Patrik Berglund rescued a puck from leaving the Wild zone and fed David Backes who scored to tie the game at 2. The Blues controlled the rest of the play to keep the score tied and send the game into overtime.
The teams played a matched game in overtime keeping the score at two a piece and pushing the game into a shootout.
Zach Parise lost the puck on his shot. T.J. Oshie couldn’t get the puck over Backstrom’s glove. Mikko Koivu hit Jake Allen’s glove. Alexander Steen couldn’t get a wide shot past Backstrom’s right pad. Jason Pominville missed the five hole. Vladimir Tarasenko scored high stick side to give the Blues the win.
HOW THEY PLAYED
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this game other than it was a mostly even match. The Blues struggled a lot throughout the first two periods but looked like a much different team throughout the third. It seems that Coach Hitchcock was having a hard time with the lines as a result of Jay Bouwmeester and Steve Ott’s injuries as well as T.J. Oshie’s heightened performance in the last game. By the third period the lines seemed to be clicking.
It is worrisome, though, that the Blues have struggled against teams that are lower in the standings. It is hard to predict how well they are going to play in their upcoming game against the Predators. They also missed a lot of chances to score on power plays, which has been an issue for the team as of late.
What are you thoughts about the game? Leave your comments below.