The Minnesota Wild have yet to find a way to beat the St. Louis Blues this season, having lost all three regular season games and then getting dumped 4-0 in front of silenced sellout crowd for Game 1 of the best-of-seven playoff series Monday night in St. Paul.
Special teams, juicy rebounds and three blistering shots dinging posts killed the Wild, who are 1-9-0 in their last ten against the Blues. Minnesota needs to find a way to beat their division rival in Game 2 Wednesday night or find themselves in an 0-2 hole heading back to St. Louis for Game 3, where they haven’t won since the 2018-19 season.
Minnesota went 0-of-6 on the power play while the Blues scored on two of six power plays. Both Blues power-play goals were scored by David Perron, who added a third goal in the third period for his first career playoff hat trick.
Perron scored his first power-play goal on a juicy rebound following a save by Marc-Andre Fleury less than seven minutes into the opening period, He added a power-play goal to give the Blues a 3-0 lead late in the second period, and then put the game on ice at the 12:34 mark of the third.
The first goal of the #StanleyCup Playoffs belongs to David Perron. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/H7yDcn2hk4
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 3, 2022
Power play is picking up where it left off in the regular season. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/xpMMODJ8O4
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 3, 2022
Perron’s third goal came seconds a Blues power play ended following a double-minor (4-minute penalty) on Kevin Fiala, who high-sticked Ryan O’Reilly in the face to slam the door shut on a Minnesota power play.
The other critical stat from the night was the Blues blocking 16 shots. Despite so many blocked attempts, the Wild still outshot St. Louis 37-31. But 27-year-old goalie Ville Husso pitched the shutout, albeit with a little puck luck as three Wild shots ricocheted off the pipes after sizzling by Husso.
Game 2 is Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. and will again be televised on Bally Sports North and ESPN.
