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Bouchard, Demitra lead Wild past Blues

Jan 31, 2007 - 6:24 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild seem to have the St. Louis Blues' number recently.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Pavol Demitra each scored two goals to lead the Wild to a 5-2 triumph over the Blues.

Bouchard opened the scoring just under six minutes into the first period as he backhanded the puck inside the left post past goaltender Manny Legace.

"It was a great play by (Petteri) Nummelin," Bouchard said. "He saw me going toward the board and he banked it off the board. With no red line, that's the advantage."

Defenseman Eric Brewer tied the contest on a power-play goal with 6:39 left in the second period, taking a rebound and backhanding the puck under the pads of goaltender Manny Fernandez.

"I told our players they've got to be doing something good because they beat big teams: Anaheim, Detroit, San Jose, Buffalo," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "When we didn't get the goals, I was scared because they were coming, they were coming, they were coming. It's just a matter of working a little harder. That's what we've been missing."

Bouchard's second tally put Minnesota ahead, 2-1, 10:21 into the third. He scored on a one-timer from below the left hash over the left shoulder of Legace.

Demitra netted the eventual game-winner on the power play with 6:45 left in the third and added an empty-netter with less than a minute to play.

"Our last five on the road we've played well," Demitra said. "Finally we got a couple of wins, and this is a huge game for us. St. Louis got close to us, and that was a very important two points."

Brian Rolston and Nummelin each added two assists for the Wild, who have won six of the last seven matchups with the Blues.

Fernandez stopped 29 shots for Minnesota, which was 1-for-5 on the power play.

Legace made 25 saves for St. Louis, which was 1-for-3 with the extra attacker.

"The biggest game of the year and we just didn't get it done," Legace said. "We had all the momentum. We just couldn't buy a goal and couldn't keep them out."