The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues met for the third time this season and the first time in St. Paul on Tuesday evening, Jan. 7. The Wild had a boost to their lineup once again as Jake Middleton rejoined the roster after missing the past 11 games but they were still without Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon, and Jakub Lauko due to injuries. They also lost Brock Faber to an upper-body injury in the first period against the Blues. The Blues were without Nick Leddy, Radek Faksa, and Torey Krug also due to injuries.
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The goaltending matchup was between the Wild’s Filip Gustavsson and Jordan Binnington for the Blues. The Wild started the game with a jump in their step, and they held on to it as they started scoring in the first, and despite the Blues getting themselves in the game and taking the lead at one point, the Wild didn’t give up and came out with the 6-4 win. This moves the Wild to a record of 26-11-4 and the Blues to 19-19-4.
Game Recap
The Wild looked in control from the start of the period and they got the first goal of the game just a minute and 23 seconds into the game. Zach Bogosian blasted one past Binnington and he was assisted on the goal by Jake Middleton and Ryan Hartman. Then, just 49 seconds later, Jon Merrill for the Wild took another shot from the point on a chaotic play that went past Binnington to put his team up 2-0. The lone assist for that goal went to another Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin.
The Blues answered back with a goal of their own in the first with a shot by Pavel Buchnevich to get his team back within a goal. Dylan Holloway and Justin Faulk assisted him. That was all the scoring in the first as the Wild took a 2-1 lead into the intermission. However, the tables turned in the second as the Blues found their energy.
The Blues got the scoring started in the second with a power play goal by Jordan Kyrou, who drew the penalty as well to tie the game at two, and Faulk and Holloway assisted him. They built off that momentum as they scored another, this time by Jake Neighbours with Oskar Sundqvist and Zack Bolduc assisting him to make it 3-2 with a lot of time left in the second. They added one more as Robert Thomas scored to make it 4-2 as Ryan Suter and Brandon Saad grabbed the assists.
The final goal for the Blues chased Gustavsson from the net, and Marc-André Fleury took over. The Wild found a way to respond near the halfway point of the period as Joel Eriksson Ek got himself on the board and he was assisted by Hartman and Marcus Johansson to make it 4-3. That would be all the scoring in the second despite some strong chances for both sides.
The third period started with the Wild recording the first goal as Middleton fired a shot past Binnington to tie the game at 4, and the lone assist went to Marco Rossi. The Wild weren’t finished, however, as Matt Boldy tallied the go-ahead goal on a feed by Mats Zuccarello to go up 5-4. The final goal was an empty-netter scored by Johansson to put them up 6-4 and they took the win.
The Wild will remain home to take on another divisional opponent in the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, Jan. 9. The Blues will head back home to face the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
