ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The St. Louis Blues may not be able to win their Western Conference quarterfinal series against Minnesota at this rate, but they'll gladly take their Game 1 win and regroup.
The Blues were heavily outshot and often outplayed in front of 19,168 at Xcel Energy Center, but goalie Jake Allen almost single-handedly beat the Wild before a late rally sent the game to overtime. He made 51 saves before defenseman Joel Edmundson scored with 2 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in OT for a 2-1 victory.
Edmundson had just five goals in his career, including one in the playoffs, before netting the game-winner. Jaden Schwartz brought the puck in the zone and Vladimir Tarasenko took it to the net and after losing the handle, the puck fluttered to Edmundson, who buried it for the win.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, gaining at least a split in the opening two games at Xcel Energy, the second of which will be Friday.
There was great debate heading into Wednesday which goalie in this series had earned the checkmark in the head-to-head comparison: Devan Dubnyk, who was one of the NHL's best goalies much of the year before a late-season slide, or Allen, who was the best down the stretch after a wicked six-week stretch.
The answer through the first game in this series is Allen. Run up and down the Minnesota lineup and at some point during the rambunctious regulation time and Allen likely made a sensational stop of them.
But Dubnyk only surrendered one himself, a second-period goal from the Blues' Vladimir Sobotka that nearly stood as the game-winner.
It would have if not a late Minnesota rally, in which the Wild pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker with one minute to play in the third period, and Zach Parise pulled off what had seemed impossible for the previous 59 minutes.
The Blues had been outshot 34-12 in the final two periods and had witnessed a divine intervention when Minnesota came within whiskers of tying the game with 9 { minutes remaining in regulation. Nino Niederreiter nearly put the puck past Allen, but with it teetering on the goal line, Parise prevented it from crossing the red paint.
But Parise would redeem himself in strong fashion.
The Wild set up in the Blues' zone with their six skaters and on a terrific passing sequence from Mikael Granlund to Mikko Koivu to Parise, they finally solved the netminder on their 44th shot of the night.
The Blues had surrendered a 6-on-5 goal five times during the regular season and three were against Minnesota. This one certainly hurt the most, tying the playoff game 1-1 with 23 seconds remaining.
Parise's 31st career playoff goal sent the game to overtime, where both teams got a power play. But with the high-stakes drama unfolding, both units could only come up with one shot each, keeping the game going.
Then with the game almost headed to a second overtime, the Blues sent the series onto Game 2.
Again, the Blues will have to regroup. They were outshot 52-26 and were bailed out by their goalie.
Any questions about whether Allen is ready to be a playoff goalie were answered Wednesday, particularly during a 16-save second period.
Allen dominated the early part of the second period when the game was still scoreless and got even better after the Blues gave their goalie a 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless first period, Minnesota came out and outshot the Blues 8-1 in the opening six minutes. The Wild were pouring on the pressure and the first lead of the game seemed to be just seconds away.
It was _ for the Blues.
Anyone who's been following the Sobotka saga for the past three years knows not to try and predict what's going to happen next and that has continued even after his arrival.
After two limited practices, Sobotka scored a goal in his first game back in Sunday's 3-2 win over Colorado and he made it two-for-two Wednesday.
Minnesota was attempting to clear its zone when Jonas Brodin's pass was intercepted by the Blues' Alexander Steen. Meanwhile, Sobotka found some open space after the Wild's Christian Folin fell, and after taking a centering pass from Steen, Sobotka put a shot off Folin and past Dubnyk for a 1-0 lead just 6:21 into the period.
The Blues had a chance to add to their advantage, but after essentially being awarded back-to-back power plays, they managed only two shots in 3:55 with an extra man.
The Minnesota PK swung the momentum back to the Wild, who got off four shots in the minute after the last power play expired. But there was Allen, first denying Jason Zucker on a backhander and then turning aside a point-blank shot from Charlie Coyle.
The second period finished just about as lopsided as it could, with Minnesota outshooting the Blues 16-6 and winning 16 of 18 faceoffs. Yet on the stick work of Sobotka and the glove work of Allen, they found themselves down heading into the third period.
