ST. LOUIS _ The start of the Blues' five-game homestand was headed in a disappointing direction.
The Minnesota Wild were the first of two Central Division opponents making their way to Scottrade Center, and one point behind the Blues in the Western Conference standings, the visitors took a lead into the third period.
Jaden Schwartz rallied them with two goals in a span of 1 minute, 3 seconds, but then an old nemesis returned: the old 6-on-5 with the goalie pulled that haunted the team last season.
Minnesota's Charlie Coyle tied the score with the extra attacker, sending the game to overtime and eventually a shootout, where David Perron's goal and Jake Allen's save on Mikael Granlund capped the Blues' 4-3 win over the Wild in front of a holiday crowd of 19,396.
The Blues extended their streak to nine games with at least one point at Scottrade Center, where they'll welcome Dallas Monday night. They are now 9-1-2 on home ice.
Allen, who also had a game-saving glove stop on Minnesota's Jason Zucker with 2:26 left in OT, improved to 7-0-2 on home ice. He finished with 28 saves.
The Blues were down, then up, then even, then skating off the ice with a shootout win.
Schwartz netted goals Nos. 7-8, seven of which have come in the last 10 games, in the third period to pull the Blues ahead. They came against Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk, who had surrendered three goals just twice in his previous 14 games.
Just 3{ minutes in, Perron wound up for a point shot, which Schwartz redirected past Dubnyk for the game-tying goal. The left winger pumped his fists, celebrating the equalizer, but he was not done.
Minnesota's Marco Scandella was whistled for holding with 4:15 into the period and 15 seconds later Schwartz had his second of the game on the power play. This time, defenseman Colton Parayko put the point shot on net and, after an initial stop, Schwartz backhanded in the rebound.
The Wild challenged the goal, asking for goalie interference on Dmitrij Jaskin, but replay showed that Jaskin was pushed into Dubynk by defenseman Ryan Sutter and the appeal was denied.
Once again, the Blues had kept themselves in a game until the third period and then outlasted their opponent _ though it took longer than they hoped.
Vladimir Tarasenko iced the puck late in the third period, setting up a faceoff in the defensive zone. The Blues called a timeout and Minnesota pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker.
With 1:08 to play, Coyle banged home a rebound attempt after teammate Eric Staal put a shot on net, and the game was tied 3-3.
The Blues had to be disappointed, but thankful to be headed to overtime after trailing Minnesota at the second intermission. They were outshooting the Wild 28-20 at that point, but were behind on goals from Erik Haula and Mikko Koivu, held a 2-1 lead.
Minnesota, which opened the scoring in the first period on a goal from Koivu, regained the lead on Haula's third goal of the season.
This was a puck that had no business being in the back of the Blues' net.
The Wild's Nino Niederreiter slung the puck into the corner in offensive zone, and Jason Pominville backhanded a pass toward the crease. Allen was covering the post but the pass hit his pads and ricocheted to Haula, who had a tap-in for a 2-1 lead just 2:02 after Paul Stastny had evened the score.
Minnesota's Charlie Coyle was attempting to clear the Wild zone, but Perron picked off his pass. He fed a pass to Stastny, who took the puck to the slot and slipped a shot past Dubnyk for a 1-1 score with 12:19 remaining in the second period.
The goal was Stastny's sixth of the season and the assist was Perron's eighth, which extended his point-streak to a career-best seven games.
The Blues were chasing the game most of the night. They went through the entire first period with penalty. How significant is that? Well, it was the first time this season that the team played the opening 20 minutes without someone going to the penalty box. They had 42 penalties in the first 21 games of the season in the first period.
But the Blues more than made up for it in the second period. No, not in quantity _ there were just two. But it was a call that fans have seen far too often that put the team's first player of the night in the box.
Jay Bouwmeester and Tarasenko came onto the ice simultaneously and that unfortunately gave them six skaters, and that is too many. It was the Blues' sixth "too many men" on the ice penalty this season, tying them with Ottawa for the most in the league.
The penalty-killing unit erased the latest attempt to go an illegal power play, but three second after the game was back to even strength, Stastny was called for tripping. The PK nullified that one, too, setting up for the game-tying goal, which Stastny picked up two minutes after exiting the box.
But Haula answered quickly, and even after Schwartz answered back, the Wild had more left. On this night, though, the Blues had a little more.
