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Power play shines as Wild blank Blues

Sep 27, 2007 - 3:08 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Their regular season is more than a week away, but the Minnesota Wild's power play looked to be in midseason form.

The Wild rattled off six second-period goals - three on the power play - and converted 4-of-5 man-advantage opportunities overall to cruise to a 7-0 preseason victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.

Mark Parrish scored two of Minnesota's power-play goals, Brian Rolston added two even-strength tallies and Niklas Backstrom stopped all 18 shots he faced to give the Wild their fourth straight victory.

The Wild's second line was just as dominant as the power-play unit, as Eric Belanger, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Rolston continued to put up points at a rapid pace. Belanger opened the scoring 3:12 into the second period with a power-play tally and Rolston added the Wild's fourth and sixth goals later in the session.

Parrish scored Minnesota's second goal at 5:58 of the second, burying a rebound while falling over after Rolston's shot hit the crossbar. Demitra tallied at even strength at 7:24, and the Wild struck again 17 seconds later, when Rolston scored off a rush from the left side off sharp passes from Belanger and Bouchard.

Parrish found the net again at 10:59, and Rolston capped the six-goal outburst in the period with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Demitra finished the scoring on the power play at 12:16 of the third.

Backstrom, who led the NHL last season in goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.929), turned aside six shots in the first period, seven in the second and five in the third for the shutout.

Manny Legace went the distance in net for the Blues, allowing all seven goals while making 26 saves.