Home Hockey Blues Allow Three Unanswered in Loss

Blues Allow Three Unanswered in Loss

by Tyler Murry

– Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/NHLI via Getty Images

The St. Louis Blues fell to the Minnesota Wild 3-1 after allowing two goals in the third period in just 17 seconds.

The Blues outshot the Wild 42 to 19, but Devan Dubnyk stopped 41 shots for the win.

Following the loss, the Blues are 43-20-5 with 91 points. St. Louis is still tied for first in the Central Division with the Nashville Predators.

In net, Brian Elliott made just 16 saves on 19 shots faced after recording a shutout in the Blues’ win against Philadelphia.

After a scoreless first period, the Blues got out to a one-goal lead with 15:13 remaining in the period. After the power play just expired, Alexander Steen held possession up the side in the attacking zone. Steen circled back to the blue line and took a shot on net that David Backes tipped in front for the goal.

The goal was Backes’s 23rd of the season, which ties him for second on the team with Jaden Schwartz.

The Wild wasted little time to respond as Justin Fontaine picked up the puck off a shot sticked away behind the net. Fontaine corralled the puck and found Thomas Vanek in the low-slot who scored his 17th of the season to tie the game with one.

After two periods of play and the game tied at two, former first-round pick Nino Niederreiter collected a rebound and scored his 22nd of the season. Elliott made the first stop on a shot from the top of the circle by Mikko Koivu, but did not control the rebound as the Blues fell behind 2-1.

Minnesota wasted little time adding to its lead as Vladamir Tarasenko lost control of the puck and turned it over in front of the St. Louis net. Kyle Brodziak gained possession and beat Elliott up high to make it 3-1 with 6:12 remaining in regulation to seal the victory for Minnesota.

St. Louis will look to get back on track on the road against the Dallas Stars Sunday, Mar. 15 at 5 p.m. CT.

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