Defender, Karl Gunnarson, swats a loose puck in front of Jake Allen
This looks familiar… The Blues got a rematch against the Minnesota Wild Saturday night, looking to get a win as payback for their early playoff elimination last year. Both coaches knew both teams very well, and that had an impact on the game’s outcome.
Coyle made it 1-0 with only 8 seconds left in the first period. Alexander Steen responded with a goal early in the second period, assisted by the red-hot Tarasenko. Smiles on the bench were wiped off as Zach Parise scored. Then Vanek made it 3-1. To top off the bad period, we learned Robby Fabbri would not return due to an upper-body injury,
I’ll be honest, we looked like we did last time we met the Wild, catching every bad bounce possible. Despite the two goal deficit, the Blues outshot the Wild 19 to 18 after two periods.
In the third period, Tarasenko made it 3-2 on a 4 minute power play. Pietrangelo got hooked but the Wild killed that penalty. Shots on goal were 28 to 18 with 12:21 left in the game. With the Wild on their heels, the Blues couldn’t finish any of their scoring chances.
Although the Blues picked up the pace towards the end, they couldn’t produce a goal when they needed to. The Wild won 3-2, with 19 shots (the Blues had 32). It is hard to critique the guys after a hard-fought game. Being picky, we had some penalties in the second period that were’t necessary.
The Blues head to Calgary for their second away game of the season on Tuesday, October 13. The Flames, like the Blues, were eliminated early in the playoffs last year, so this should be a good game. Tune in at 8:00 on FS-Midwest.
