Badly needing a road win in St. Louis on Tuesday night, the Minnesota Wild did just that getting a 6-2 victory over the Blues.
Instead of a conventional recap, let’s change things up and recap with some gifs.
Just 42 seconds into the first, Jaden Schwartz cleans up a rebound to give the Blues the lead. At this point, you were probably telling yourself, “Here we go again with another lousy road performance.”
Just 1:18 later, the Wild have tied the game thanks to “Good Hockey Boy” Nino Niederreiter.
With seven minutes to play in the first, Devan Dubnyk comes up big on Vladimir Tarasenko with a pad save to keep the game tied. This play will turn out to be huge.
Late in the first, Marcus Foligno taps home a puck that Carter Hutton could not corral. And now, the Wild have a rare lead on the road.
The Blues take a penalty, and the captain made them pay as Mikko Koivu comes up with a non-shootout backhander. The Wild were up 3-1 after the first period in a game they really need to win.
Midway through the second period, Jonas Brodin takes his final shift in this hockey game. He did not return as head coach Bruce Boudreau told the media after the game Brodin had an “upper body injury.”
To open the second period, Jake Allen — noted Wild killer — replaced Hutton in goal. Allen has a good first half of the period, but then he gives one right to Jason Zucker and the Wild to make it 4-1.
Five minutes into the period we find Matt Dumba, who many of you doubted in October, blasting his 10th goal of the season to make it 5-1 and officially put the rout on. Dumba is tied for third in the NHL in goals scored by a defenseman. The Wild are able to take this lead into the intermission and need just another 20 minutes to close out a big road win.
It took the off-ice officials until after the game to give Eric Staal this goal — it was given to Parise originally. But we shouldn’t be surprised, as these same officials had an interesting strategy when it came to giving shots on goal.
With seven minutes to go, Colton Parayko takes a shot that hits Nate Prosser in the leg and he goes down. The puck eventually gets to Dmitri Jaskin, who buries it past Dubnyk to make it 6-2. Prosser did not return to the game, so the Wild are now playing the final seven minutes with just four defensemen.
The Blues get a goal a bit later, but it is waved off for high sticking. Minnesota gets outshot 19-3 in the third, but hangs on for the 6-2 win. The Wild — who stay in a playoff spot with the win — return home Thursday to play the Arizona Coyotes at Xcel Energy Center.
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