MINNEAPOLIS — The St. Louis Blues shocked the Minnesota Wild with a late-game rally on Wednesday, and the Wild almost returned the favor in the rematch.
After falling into a three-goal hole, the Wild clawed back to force overtime before St. Louis nixed the comeback with a 5-4 victory Thursday in front of 3,000 at Xcel Energy Center for its second win in as many nights against the Wild.
This is just the second time all season the Wild has dropped back-to-back games at home. The team also remains winless since securing a playoff berth last Saturday.
Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly scored on a breakaway with 1 minute, 17 seconds remaining in overtime, snuffing out the Wild's rally that included a game-tying goal by rookie Kirill Kaprizov with 52 seconds to go in the third period.
After outplaying the Wild in the third period Wednesday and scoring in the final minute to seal a 4-3 comeback, the Blues parlayed that momentum into Round 2, earning a three-goal head start before the Wild stormed back by scoring three goals in the third period.
Just 3:14 into the first period, Sammy Blais buried a loose puck in front after the Blues' forecheck wreaked havoc on the Wild, pinning the team in its own zone before the pressure culminated in a goal.
In the second, Marcus Foligno crushed Jordan Kyrou with a hit and was subsequently confronted by Robert Bortuzzo for a fight, Bortuzzo's second of the game after tussling in the first period with Jordan Greenway.
Bortuzzo received two minutes for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct in addition to a fighting major, but the Wild didn't take advantage on the ensuing power play.
Instead, the Blues padded their lead.
Tyler Bozak broke free after poking the puck away from captain Jared Spurgeon, and he slid the puck by goalie Cam Talbot at 7:34 — the third shorthanded goal given up by the Wild this season.
Back at even strength, the Wild fell behind even further.
Former Wild defenseman Marco Scandella joined the rush and wired in a puck from the slot at 10:55. Kyrou, who continued to play after absorbing that check from Foligno, set up Scandella's shot.
As has been the case lately, Foligno's line with Greenway and Eriksson Ek provided a jolt before the second adjourned.
After Greenway and Foligno got the puck to Eriksson Ek, he peeled off from pressure and then deked before lifting the puck by Ville Husso for one of his smoothest goals of the year.
The finish extended Eriksson Ek's career-high point streak to seven games, a run in which he has four goals and three assists. His career-high 17 goals are third on the team.
With assists, Greenway and Foligno pushed their point streaks to three games; Greenway continued to lead the Wild in assists (25) and Foligno is just two points shy of matching the career high he set last season (25).
Overall, the line is up to 21 points over the last seven games.
Early in the third, Kevin Fiala moved the Wild within a goal of St. Louis on his one-timer at 2:21, but O'Reilly answered back on the power play at 6:16. St. Louis finished 1-for-2 with the man advantage; the Wild was 0-for-1.
Victor Rask scored with 4:39 to go to snap a 20-game drought and once again make it a one-goal game before Kaprizov finally pulled the Wild even.
Husso had 26 saves, while Talbot made 16.
The Wild had hoped to use these games leading up to the playoffs to improve its play, but the team has been inconsistent and that's stalled another objective of this final leg: moving up in the West Division.
A win in either of these two games vs. the Blues would have elevated the Wild to second place, jumping over the Avalanche. Instead, the team remains in third.
