• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Blues ease past Wild

Apr 2, 2013 - 7:20 AM St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Jaden Schwartz and Andy McDonald each had a goal and an assist as the St. Louis Blues took down the Minnesota Wild, 4-1, on Monday.

Barret Jackman and Kevin Shattenkirk also lit the lamp for the Blues, who snapped a three-game skid and moved one point ahead of the Oilers Blue Jackets for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

Jaroslav Halak made five saves before suffering a lower-body injury in the final seconds of the first period. Brian Elliott stopped 19-of-20 shots in relief.

"It's part of the job description, you have to be ready to go all the time," said Elliott. "You never want to see a guy go down, but I just wanted to be able to help the team as much as I could."

Dany Heatley scored the lone goal for the Wild, who are tied with Vancouver atop the Northwest Division with 44 points.

"I think this game gives us a reminder of what we need to do to be successful," said Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo. "That's basically it in a nutshell. Unfortunately we couldn't buy a goal there when we made a push late in the game, but we didn't come out good and that's what happens."

Niklas Backstrom turned aside 20-of-24 shots for Minnesota, which has lost two of three. His personal eight-game winning streak came to an end.

The Blues drew first blood at the 12:32 mark of the first period. After stopping the Wild from clearing the puck out of their own zone, Schwartz made his way to the right hash and fired a shot past Backstrom.

St. Louis was forced to make a change in net with just seconds left in the opening frame. Halak hurt himself while stretching out to stop a shot, and Elliott took over in net.

Heatley lit the lamp at the 6:59 mark of the middle stanza to make it 1-1. Elliott stopped Jonas Brodin's initial shot from the point, but Heatley jammed the rebound past the St. Louis goaltender.

The Blues took the lead back on McDonald's goal at the 12:17 mark.

Shattenkirk's slap shot from the right point got past Backstrom at the 14:07 mark, making it a 3-1 contest.

Jackman's shot from the left point with 50.3 seconds left in the third accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Blues are 2-0 against the Wild this season ... St. Louis acquired defenseman Jay Bouwmeester from Calgary in exchange for defenseman Mark Cundari, the rights to goaltender Reto Berra and a conditional first round pick in 2013 ... Defenseman Jordan Leopold made his Blues debut ... The Wild had a four-game home winning streak snapped ... St. Louis center T.J. Oshie (lower body) missed the game.