The Minnesota Wild are on the brink of advancing to the Western Conference semifinals after beating the St. Louis Blues 4-1 Friday night in Game 5.
The win gives the Wild a 3-2 series lead and a chance to clinch it in six at home on Sunday.
Devan Dubnyk rebounded from his rough night on Wednesday, with a 36 save performance on Friday. He kept the Wild in the game early as Minnesota was outshot 12-3 in the first period.
https://twitter.com/mnwildLIVE/status/591807122423324672
The Blues got on the scoreboard first, again it was Vladimir Tarasenko with his sixth goal of the series. He was assisted by Alexander Steen and Jaden Schwartz.
But that was all the Blues would get.
The Wild didn’t stay down long, less than three minutes later Minnesota answered on a powerful slap shot by Marco Scandella.
This embed is invalid
The Wild claimed the lead in the second on Nino Niederreiter’s second goal of the series. Less than two minutes later, Minnesota pushed the lead to two as Miko Koivu scored on a Wild power play.
This embed is invalid
Then in the third the Wild put the game away with a goal from Charlie Coyle.
Game 6 is Sunday back in St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center.
Scoring Summary
1st period: 8:04 STL – PPG Vladimir Tarasenko (6) Wrist shot – Assist: Alexander Steen (3), Jaden Schwartz (2) 1-0 STL
1st period: 11:06 MIN – Marco Scandella (2) Slap shot – Assist: Jared Spurgeon (2) 1-1 Tie
2nd period: 14:56 MIN – Nino Niederreiter (2) Snap shot – Assist: Chris Stewart (2) 2-1 MIN
2nd period: 16:22 MIN – PPG Mikko Koivu (1) Wrist shot – Assist: Zach Parise (4) 3-1 MIN
3rd period: 14:50 MIN – Charlie Coyle (1) Wrist shot – Assist: Thomas Vanek (2) 4-1 MIN
