Blues squeeze past Wild in shootout
ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz had two third-period goals and David Perron scored the winner in the shootout to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
Center Paul Stastny scored and goalie Jake Allen made 28 saves as the Blues improved to 9-1-2 at home this season. The Blues have a nine-game home points streak, their longest since Dec. 29, 2014-Feb. 3, 2015.
Perron and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo each had two assists. Perron upped his points streak to seven games. His second assist was No. 200 for his career.
Center Mikko Koivu, left winger Erik Haula and center Charlie Coyle scored and goalie Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves for the Wild, who lost their fourth straight game and fifth in the last six against the Blues.
Schwartz tied the score at 3:27 of the third period with a tip-in of a Perron slap shot.
Schwartz struck again 63 seconds later on a rebound for a power play goal to give the Blues a 3-2 lead.
Wild coach Bruce Boudreau challenged the goal, claiming Dubnyk was interfered by right winger Dmitrij Jaskin, but the replayed showed Jaskin was pushed into Dubnyk by Wild defenseman Ryan Suter.
But Coyle tied the score with just 1:08 left, jamming in a centering pass from center Eric Staal from behind the net. It was Coyle's third goal in two games.
Koivu gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with 8:24 left in the first period. Koivu, who extended his points streak to four games, cashed in from a pass from behind the net by left winger Jason Zucker.
The Wild led after the first period despite being outshot 16-9 by the Blues. For most of the first period, the Wild did indeed look like a team playing in its second game in as many days, but the Blues couldn't solve Dubnyk.
The penalty bug bit the Blues again after they took back-to-back minors in the first four minutes of the second period. The Blues entered the game with 247 penalty minutes, fourth most in the NHL.
But the Blues were able to keep the Wild from adding to their lead as Allen made six saves on the penalty kills including a pad save on center Eric Staal and a glove save on defenseman Jared Spurgeon.
Stastny tied the score for the Blues at 7:41 of the second period. Perron set up the goal after intercepting a clearing attempt by Coyle, who then passed it to an open Stastny in the slot.
Haula tipped in a centering pass by right winger Jason Pominville for his third goal of the season to give the Wild a 2-1 lead with 10:17 left in the second.
NOTES: Despite skating for the first time Friday, LW Alexander Steen (upper body) was not in the lineup for the Blues. Steen suffered an undisclosed non-concussion related injury on Nov. 15 against Buffalo. ... Wild D Christian Folin is expected to miss 3-4 weeks with a sprained MCL in his left knee that he suffered in the first period against Pittsburgh on Friday. Nate Prosser replaced Folin in the lineup. ... Wild F Chris Stewart scored 63 goals and 115 points with the Blues from 2011 to 2014. ... Minnesota continue its five-game road trip at Vancouver on Tuesday. St. Louis continues its five-game homestand against Dallas on Monday.