Final
Trio helps Wild past Blues
Oct 21, 2007 - 4:03 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- By their standards, the Minnesota Wild had an offensive explosion on Saturday.Eric Belanger, Pavol Demitra and defenseman Brett Burns scored goals to help the Wild rebound from their lone loss of the season with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Each member of the trio has three goals this season, good enough to share the lead on a team which has only netted 17.
"We moved the puck really well again tonight," Belanger said. "We're seeing each other really well on the ice."
Then again, Minnesota's stingy defense has allowed a league-low nine tallies in seven games.
"We played as a team," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We were intense all the time. We never gave them a chance to breathe with the puck. I thought we played so tight, we made it tough for them to create some opportunities."
Josh Harding stopped 33 shots for the Wild, who fell to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3, in a shootout Tuesday. Despite that loss, the Wild remain the only team to pick up a point in each contest this season.
"I'm glad to contribute," Harding said. "It's a big win coming on the road here. We knew it was going to be a tough game. That's a great club over there that works hard. Their goaltender played outstanding tonight. I think we battled hard and we came prepared."
Demitra welcomed his former team by opening the scoring with 7:23 remaining in the second period. After the Wild won a faceoff, Demitra wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat goaltender Manny Legace high to the stick side.
Demitra played eight seasons of his 13-year career with the Blues.
St. Louis evened the contest with 52 seconds remaining in the second.
Rookie defenseman Steve Wagner skated from his own end and wristed a shot, which trickled between Harding's pads to tie the game at 1-1. It was his first career goal.
"When you have guys crashing, you shoot for rebounds," Wagner said. "I don't think he was ready for it. You still feel good about getting (the goal) under your belt, but you still have a bad taste in your mouth because you got the loss."
Minnesota quickly regained the momentum 41 seconds later, when Belanger accepted a feed from Pierre-Marc Bouchard and wristed a shot from the left circle past Legace to give the Wild a 2-1 advantage.
Burns gave Minnesota an insurance goal in the third. The forward-turned-defenseman benefited from some crisp passing by his teammates and blasted a slap shot over the shoulder of Legace with just under nine minutes remaining in the contest.
"They are going to be a tough team to beat all year," Legace said. "I think if we go into that third period 1-1, it's a different hockey game.
"We had an off-night and they're a good hockey club. When you don't have a good game against a good hockey club, you're not going to win."
Legace stopped 31 shots for St. Louis.
- NHL
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
MINNESOTA 0 2 1 3
ST LOUIS 0 1 0 1 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: MIN - (PP) PAVOL DEMITRA 3 (ERIC BELANGER, KIM JOHNSSON)
12:37
MIN - ERIC BELANGER 3 (PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD, BRANKO
RADIVOJEVIC) 19:49
STL - STEVE WAGNER 1 (MARTIN RUCINSKY) 19:50
3RD PRD: MIN - BRENT B
Oct 20 11:03 PM - NHL
MINNESOTA 3
ST LOUIS 1
3RD PRD: MIN - BRENT BURNS 3 (MARIAN GABORIK, PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD)
11:19
Wild vs. BluesOct 20 10:45 PM - NHL
END OF THE 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
MINNESOTA 0 2 2
ST LOUIS 0 1 1 END OF THE 2ND
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: MIN - (PP) PAVOL DEMITRA 3 (ERIC BELANGER, KIM JOHNSSON)
12:37
MIN - ERIC BELANGER 3 (PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD) 19:49
STL - STEVE WAGNER 1 (MARTIN RUCINSKY) 19:50
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND
Oct 20 10:08 PM - NHL
MINNESOTA 2
ST LOUIS 1
2ND PRD: MIN - ERIC BELANGER 3 (PIERRE-MARC BOUCHARD) 19:49
Wild vs. BluesOct 20 10:07 PM - NHL
MINNESOTA 1
ST LOUIS 1
2ND PRD: STL - STEVE WAGNER 1 (MARTIN RUCINSKY) 19:50
Wild vs. BluesOct 20 10:06 PM - NHL
MINNESOTA 1
ST LOUIS 0
2ND PRD: MIN - (PP) PAVOL DEMITRA 3 (ERIC BELANGER, KIM JOHNSSON)
12:37
Wild vs. BluesOct 20 9:54 PM - NHL
END OF THE 1ST 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
MINNESOTA 0 0
ST LOUIS 0 0 END OF THE 1ST
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
MIN 17 17
STL 10 10
GOALIES: MIN - JOSH HARDING
STL - MANNY LEGACE
Oct 20 9:15 PM
Related News
- Marc-Andre Fleury Set an NHL Record Against the Seattle Kraken Nov 12
- Minnesota Wild End Scoring Drought Thanks to Kirill Kaprizov Nov 11
- Now it’s time to say goodnight Oct 31
- Kings at Blues GameDay Thread Oct 31
- Kings at Blues preview: Struggling Blues need some consistent effort Oct 31
- Left and right? Blues may struggle, but there are positives Oct 30
- Canadiens at Blues GameDay Thread Oct 29
- Blues activate Pavel Buchnevich from IR Oct 29
- Canadiens at Blues preview: Can the Blues snap their losing streak? Oct 29
- Blues defense, goalkeeping collapse in embarrassing 6-2 loss in Nashville Oct 28
- Blues at Predators GameDay Thread Oct 27
- Blues at Predators preview: How to jump-start an offense? Oct 27