ST. LOUIS_The St. Louis Blues let their game with Minnesota get a little closer than they would have liked, with the Wild puling within one goal midway through the third period, before the Blues scored two power-play goals, including Sammy Blais' first in the NHL, in a 6-3 win over the Wild on Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
Minnesota cut what was once a 3-0 lead to 4-3 on two power-play goals in the third period, before Jaden Schwartz got his second goal of the night to give the Blues some breathing room and then Blais' first goal put them up by three again.
The Blues also got their second shorthanded goal of the season, this one by Kyle Brodziak, in the third period.
With the win and Tampa Bay's loss to Pittsburgh, the Blues have 35 points, the most in the NHL.
In all, the Blues had three power-play goals in the game and gave up one shorthanded goal. They did all this one night after being shutout by Nashville.
The Blues didn't score in the second period, and their power play gave up a goal rather than scoring one as they led 3-1 after two periods on Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
Blais, making his return to the lineup after being recalled from the AHL, put a puck right on the stick of Minnesota's Charlie Coyle, who then beat Blues' goalie Jake Allen. The Blues' power play continues to have issues, even after it scored in the first period. It's two second-period power plays were exceedingly unproductive. The Blues are 1 for 5 on the power play tonight with eight shots on goal in over seven minutes.
Paul Stastny started the scoring with the power-play goal, redirecting a shot by Vladimir Sobotka past goalie Devan Dubnyk with 13:44 left in the period.
Then after a three-on-one for the Blues transformed into a break for Minnesota the other way and two saves by Allen, Dmitrij Jaskin got his third goal of the season and second goal in three games when Chris Thorburn knocked a puck loose, Jaskin picked it up, maneuvered around Dubnyk and scored.
After a fight between Thorburn and Chris Stewart_they also fought in the preseason and have now fought four times in the regular season_the Blues made it 3-0 when Vladimir Tarasenko won a battle for the puck, fed it to Schwartz in front and he jammed it past Dubnyk.
Blais, who had one assist in four games when he was with the team in October before being sent back to San Antonio,stepped into Magnus Paajarvi's spot on the right side of the third line, alongside Jaskin and Oskar Sundqvist. Paajarvi took a puck to the foot on Friday, one of the reasons he played only 8:56 (another was that that line didn't get a whole lot done, especially compared to the second and fourth lines); coach Mike Yeo said they expect him to be fine.
