St. Louis Blues 4
Minnesota Wild 2
The Minnesota Wild saw their four-game winning streak end Sunday night, as the St. Louis Blues brought a 3-0 lead into the third period and held on for a 4-2 win in St. Paul.
The Wild were playing their second game in two days (and their 15th in the last 26 days). They remain two points ahead of Colorado in the race for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Three things:
1) Dubnyk done early
This was a game Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk probably wants to forget.
Two minutes after he was beaten by Jori Lehtera off a Wild turnover, Dubnyk had a wrist shot from Blues enforcer Ryan Reaves sneak past his glove for another first period goal.
In the middle of the second, Dubnyk directed the rebound of a David Backes shot onto Patrick Berglund’s stick for St. Louis’ third goal and he was replaced by Darcy Kuemper after making 13 saves.
2) Officials OK with Brodziak’s back-in
The Blues’ second goal came just after a play the Wild unsuccessfully challenged, with Minnesota arguing the play should have been whistled dead because St. Louis was offside.
Former Wild forward Kyle Brodziak carried the puck into the Minnesota zone but he did it while skating backwards, with his body crossing the blue line before the puck.
Kyle Brodziak ruled to have possession here, so not called offside. Ryan Reaves' goal stands. Blues lead 2-0. pic.twitter.com/ERdvndDjX1
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) March 7, 2016
Dubnyk on 2nd goal:"it's so offside that both our defense men stopped playing. Guys on the other bench are laughing after the goal." #mnaild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 7, 2016
3) Wild claw back into it
Let’s see … a deflating no-call, a couple of soft goals allowed, and a three-goal deficit to start the third period on night #2 of a back-to-back. Time to fold up the tent and phone in the last 20 minutes, isn’t it?
Instead, the Wild fought back under interim coach John Torchetti, with defensemen Ryan Suter and Matt Dumba scoring third period goals.
Minnesota pulled Kuemper late in hopes of tying the game with the extra skater. They nearly did when a shot by Suter was just inches wide of the goal before the Blues scored an empty-netter to seal their win.
Tweet of the game
As we mentioned, things looked less than rosy for Wild fans between the 2nd and 3rd periods, when this was tweeted by a disgruntled fan/parent:
Daughter begs 2 come 2 #mnwild game. Finally works 2 bring her 2nite. She's now inspecting her hair 4 split ends bc that's how good game is
— Julie H (@JulieH_4) March 7, 2016
Up next:
Believe it or not, the schedule makers have given the Wild three straight days off. They’re back in action Thursday, when the Edmonton Oilers visit the Xcel Energy Center.
