(AP Photo / Hannah Foslien)
The Blues visited Xcel Energy Center Sunday night to play the Minnesota Wild. St. Louis came into this one having won 12 of their last 13 games. The Wild looked to gain some ground as they were sitting just outside of the 2nd Wild Card spot with 64 points.
The Blues held 3rd in the Central Division and were 6 points ahead of Dallas and Colorado who sat in the Wild Card spots. Prior to the game, St. Louis was 6 points behind the 2nd place Nashville Predators with 3 games in hand. The 1st place Winnipeg Jets were 7 points ahead of the Blues.
Team Records
- Blues: (33-23-5)
- Wild: (29-27-6)
Forward Lines
- Schwartz, O’Reilly, Tarasenko
- Thomas, Bozak, Maroon
- Steen, Sundqvist, Fabbri
- MacEachern, Barbashev, Blais
Defensive Pairings
- Edmundson, Pietrangelo
- Bouwmeester, Parayko
- Dunn, Bortuzzo
Starting Goaltenders
STL – Allen: (17-15-4, 2.98 GAA, .901 SV%)
MIN – Dubnyk: (23-21-5, 2.63 GAA, .910 SV%)
Goals Scored: Jason Zucker, Alex Pietrangelo, Ryan Donato
Three Stars
- Ryan Donato
- Jason Zucker
- Devan Dubnyk
Game Summary
1st Period
There was no scoring in the 1st period. The Blues blocked 5 shots to Minnesota’s 1. St. Louis won 71% of the faceoffs but gave the puck away 5 times. Shots on goal were 8-5 in favor of the Wild. Minnesota was also leading in hits 8-3. The Blues missed the net 4 times while the Wild missed the mark on 6.
Robert Thomas took a big hit along the boards from Mikael Granlund. Ryan O’Reilly had a great chance when he skated in behind the defense, but he shot over the net. Tarasenko crashed into Devin Dubnyk when Pietrangelo set him up at the doorstep. Barbashev set up Robby Fabbri for a solid opportunity, but Dubnyk said no with his right pad.
With 55 seconds left in the period, Jay Bouwmeester was called for cross-checking Jason Zucker. Zucker made a move past Bouwmeester and crashed the net. The Wild went on their first Power Play. Ryan Donato was denied by Allen. 1:05 carried over into the 2nd period.
2nd Period
The Blues were able to kill the Wild’s remaining Power Play time. Mikael Granlund put the only shot on goal.
Erik Staal then went to the box at 2:16 for interference on Jay Bouwmeester to give the Blues their first Power Play. They failed to put a shot on goal, and Ryan O’Reilly was called for tripping Zach Parise to make it 4 on 4 for 17 seconds. Minnesota then went on the Power Play for 1:43. The Wild put 5 shots on goal but didn’t capitalize.
Alexander Steen was called for holding Jordan Greenway at 6:54 and Minnesota saw their 3rd Power Play. The Wild didn’t register a shot on goal on the man advantage.
At 11:42, Erik Staal set up Jason Zucker from behind Jake Allen’s net to put the Wild up 1-0.
#FEBRUARY24 #STLvsMIN 2nd period
Jason Zucker
1-0 MIN pic.twitter.com/TcmOFyOjln— John Smith (@NJviDs) February 25, 2019
The Blues closest chance was when Alex Pietrangelo hit the post.
Shots on goal were tied at 13 for this frame. St. Louis blocked 6 more shots and put 13 hits on Minnesota. The Wild had 2 hits in the 2nd period. Faceoffs were 50-50 thus far.
3rd Period
Jared Spurgeon went to the sin bin for tripping Vladimir Tarasenko at 6:07. St. Louis went on their 2nd Power Play. At 7:26, Alex Pietrangelo was able to score to knot the game up at 1 and give the Blues some hope.
You could feel that one coming. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/4HpZlZ2cDJ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 25, 2019
Jake Allen made a key save to keep this game tied up.
Jake Allen doesn’t skip leg day. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/jRMExHkWBO
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) February 25, 2019
Overtime
The Blues went home with a point.
Ryan Donato scores his first goal as a member of the #MNWild in his first home game. The Wild win in OT. pic.twitter.com/Gsb6tYG5RD
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) February 25, 2019
My Thoughts
The Blues were lucky to get a point in this game. Jake Allen played great saving 34 of 35 in regulation, and the key save above is what gave the boys a chance at OT. He’d certainly like the Donato goal back, but I can’t pin blame on Allen for the Zucker goal.
Vince Dunn could have taken the man, or tied up the stick there to break that up, but it was a fast play and he chose to put his stick on the ice. Without Jake’s great save at the post in the 3rd period, this team leaves without a point.
My personal opinion is that Jordan Binnington would have made that OT save, but I’m not sure if Binnington would have taken this particular game to Overtime. I have seen a confident Binnington play in front of a zooming Blues team, and he may have allowed a few goals in regulation the way this team played.
Again, most of the time… 1 goal isn’t going to win a hockey game in this league.