ST. PAUL, Minn. _ All eyes were focused on who the Wild would start in net Sunday afternoon, but that wasn't a decisive factor against the Blues.
The mistake-laden play in front of the net was.
In a crucial Central Division battle that had the feel of the most significant game of the season thus far, the Wild were overwhelmed 4-0 by the Blues in front of 19,102 at Xcel Energy Center for their fourth straight loss during a disastrous 1-5-3 slide.
Special-teams play sunk the Wild, paving the way for the Blues to tie a franchise record with a 10th consecutive win _ a run that includes 187 minutes, 16 seconds of shutout hockey.
Just 5:08 into the first period, St. Louis scored its first on the power play when winger Vladimir Tarasenko was left wide open to crash the net and wrist a feed from linemate Ryan O'Reilly by backup Alex Stalock, who was tabbed for the start instead of No. 1 Devan Dubnyk.
The goal extended Tarasenko's point streak to 12 games, a span in which he's recorded 22 points after his three-point effort against the Wild.
After winger Marcus Foligno was penalized for hooking late in the frame, this after he was caught out of position on the Tarasenko goal, the Blues doubled their lead at 19:30 again on the power play when O'Reilly walked into an open seam to wire the puck by Stalock.
It was the 14th power play goal surrendered by the Wild in the last 12 games.
The Wild's power play had a chance to cut into that deficit in the second, but the unit didn't even register a shot. And soon after the Blues killed off the chance, they broke out for a 3-on-1 attack that defenseman Vince Dunn buried behind Stalock at 7:27.
Later in the second, St. Louis tacked on a fourth during a 2-on-1 look that ended with winger Brayden Schenn's centering feed bouncing off a sprawled Nick Seeler and sliding into the net with Seeler at 12:06.
As if the score wasn't enough to reveal the gap between the two teams, a string of penalties by the Wild the rest of the period further reinforced the disparity.
Stalock took a delay of game minor for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid. Less than a minute later, center Joel Eriksson Ek was hit with a four-minute penalty for high sticking _ giving the Blues an extended 5-on-3 advantage. And before that second penalty expired, winger Zach Parise took a hooking penalty as he chased a dump-in into the offensive zone to put St. Louis back on a 5-on-3.
Overall, the Blues went 2-for-6 on the power play; the Wild were 0-for-5.
St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington made 31 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. Stalock had 26 stops.
