ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The Blues were headed for a second straight overtime in their Western Conference quarterfinal against Minnesota Friday night, but Jaden Schwartz said hold on.
Schwartz scored his seventh-career playoff goal with 2 minutes, 27 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Blues to a 2-1 victory in Game 2, giving them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Both wins came at Xcel Energy Center, which means the series will now shift to St. Louis for Game 3 Sunday at Scottrade Center.
The Blues didn't need another Herculean effort from goalie Jake Allen, who needed just 23 saves against Minnesota Friday for his second win of the playoffs. The Wild, who were second in the NHL in goals during the regular season with 266, have just two in the series, and both belong to Zach Parise.
But after Parise tied the game late in the second period, the Blues got one from Schwartz late in the third. It came four on four, with Scottie Upshall and Charlie Coyle in the penalty box for roughing.
Alex Pietrangelo carried the puck through the neutral zone and centered a pass to Schwartz. He dropped down into the high slot and put a wrist shot past Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Minnesota appeared to score in the closing seconds, but Coyle's shot came after the buzzer.
And with that, along with another goalie from defenseman Joel Edmundson, the Blues lead the series despite the fact that their power play is 0 for 6 and Vladimir Tarasenko has just one point and seven shots on goal.
Few would have believed this, especially after a first period Friday that was similar to Game 1, with the Blues struggling in many of the same areas.
Though the Blues won two days earlier, there's a pattern that's forming: lose a face-off, watch the Wild infiltrate the zone, have trouble exiting the zone and ice the puck.
Minnesota won the faceoff battle 65-35 percent in the opening period Friday. Alexander Steen was winless on four draws, while Ivan Barbashev won just two of eight.
But somehow, just as they did in Game 1, the Blues were able to withstand the Wild's pressure in the first period and come out scoreless.
The Blues had just five shots on goal in the period, giving them just 22 over the past 80 minutes, including overtime in Game 1.
It was noteworthy that with so little action in the offensive end, Blues coach Mike Yeo stuck with his line combinations to start the second, and it was a much improved period for the Blues.
The club came out more aggressively and it led to the game's first goal, which was scored by Edmundson.
The Blues were about to go on the power play. David Perron made a nifty pass to Magnus Paajarvi, who was pulled down by Martin Hanzel. Paajarvi went down, the referee's arm went up, but in the meantime Edmundson put a slap shot past Dubnyk.
Edmundon's second goal in as many playoff games and the third of his career in the postseason put the Blues ahead 1-0 just 3:51 into the period.
They built more momentum later in the period on the power play, even though the unit failed to score. With Minnesota's Ryan Suter in the penalty box serving his third minor of the series, the Blues had three shots goal, and though the Wild killed the penalty, the club took over the shot lead for the first time in the series since the opening period of Game 1.
The pace was starting to pick up and Minnesota, trailing 1-0 with time winding down in the middle frame, were starting to get desperate.
The Wild's Chris Stewart went after former teammate Ryan Reaves, who was not only in Stewart's wedding, he is the godfather of his children. But Reaves declined, and the two stayed out of the penalty box.
Other Blues, though, didn't stay out.
First, Steen was called for holding the stick, and then Upshall was whistled for elbowing, putting Minnesota on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:25. The Blues were in a peck of trouble, especially considering Steen and Upshall are two of their prime penalty-killers.
It took the Wild 34 seconds to beat Allen for the first time in Game 2 and just the second time in the series, with both belonging to Parise.
Eric Staal came in from a corner angle and puck thrown in front of the net blocked by Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. But it lay free on top of the crease and Parise poked it past Allen for a 1-1 tie with 2:16 left in the second period.
The 5-on-3 goal was the first of the series for either power play, after the two units had combined to go scoreless on their first 11 chances of the series.
It couldn't have come at a more crucial time for Minnesota, which was starring at the possibility of a one-goal deficit heading into the third period of a game that if the Wild loss would put them down 0-2 in the series.
And their man-advantage wasn't over, either. Steen exited the box, but with Upshall still parked, there was still 1:27 left in a power play. The Blues' penalty kill, though, erased the remainder of the power play and sent the clubs to a nail-biting third period.
It was that way all the way to the final horn.
