Wild leave another point on table in overtime loss to Blues

The Wild met their closest competitor in the Western Conference standings on Saturday for the third time in three weeks, looking to pass the St. Louis Blues for ninth place, one spot out of the final wild card spot.

For the third time in those three games, Minnesota failed to come away with two points.

Jordan Kyrou scored a hat trick, and Brandon Saad scored in overtime as St. Louis rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits to beat Minnesota 4-3 a matinee at Xcel Energy Center, and deal the Wild another blow in their bid to make their fourth straight postseason appearance.

Playing without injured top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenseman Jonas Brodin, both out with lower body injuries, the Wild fell to 1-1-2 against their Central Division rival, and three points behind them in the West.

Marco Rossi scored a pair of goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots, but the Wild left themselves in danger of falling six points behind eighth-place Vegas for the last playoff spot in the West pending the Knights’ late home game against Columbus.

Marcus Johansson also scored for Minnesota, which has lost two straight games to teams ahead of them in the conference standings following Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss at Los Angeles. Rossi, 22, now has 20 goals in his first full NHL season. Kirill Kaprizov had the first assist on both goals and extended his team-leading points total to 79.

Kyrou tied the game 3-3 with a wrist shot from the high slot, and scored the game-winner on a breakaway with 10 minutes left in regulation.

Jake Neighbours put the Blues on the board first, starting a rush with a takeaway at his own blue line and finishing it when he slapped the rebound of a Fleury pad save into the net at 10:07 of the first period.

Johansson tied it early in the second period when he skated to slot and shot a pass from Brock Faber past Binnington and into a largely open net at 4:45. Rossi gave the Wild their first lead when he got behind the Blues defense, took a pass from Kaprizov and beat Binnington 5 hole at 11:44.

The Blues quickly tied the score, however, when Kyrou got behind the Wild defense on a forecheck and swiped a pass from Pavel Buchnevich past Fleury from the foot of the crease to make it 2-2 at 12:49.

Rossi put the Wild back up when he finished a rush, taking a centering pass from Mats Zuccarello and poking it past Binnington for a 3-2 lead at 15:11, but Kyrou tied it early in the third period with his second goal of the game, a wrist shot from the high slot on a rush that beat Fleury to his right to make it 3-3 at 3:50.

Related Articles

Minnesota Wild |


Wild remain Marc-Andre Fleury’s playoff contender

Minnesota Wild |


John Shipley: Wild have few trade options, but maybe Bill Guerin will surprise us

Minnesota Wild |


Marc-Andre Fleury starts strong, finishes stronger as Wild beat Penguins, 3-2

Minnesota Wild |


Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury moves into second place on NHL career wins list

Minnesota Wild |


Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury has first chance to pass Patrick Roy

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Previous post Gophers football adds first commitment for next year’s recruiting class
Next post Brayan Bello finishes spring training strong before first-ever Opening Day start