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Wild hold off Blues

Nov 6, 2011 - 2:25 AM St. Paul, MN (Sports Network) - Guillaume Latendresse scored the eventual game-winning goal in the second period, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues from Xcel Energy Center.

Dany Heatley netted the other goal, while Mikko Koivu and Nate Prosser added assists. Josh Harding turned away 30 shots for the Wild, who have won four straight.

"It's a big win for our guys because we can stress all we want but that's always a tough game," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said. "I didn't think that our start was great, but as the game went on I felt we stepped it up and that's what winners do."

Jamie Langenbrunner netted the lone goal for St. Louis, which has lost three of its last four games.

Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves in defeat.

Trailing with under a minute to go, Halak was called to the bench in favor of the extra attacker, but Harding stood tall to preserve the win for his team.

After a scoreless first stanza, Minnesota broke the tie at 11:39 of the second period when Koivu picked up a loose puck in the defensive zone and charged up the left wing and broke in on a 2-on-1 with Heatley. Koivu slid a pass to Heatley in the slot and the crafty winger fired it past Halak to the glove side to give his team the lead.

The Wild extended its lead to 2-0 at 18:42 thanks to some sloppy play in the defensive zone by St. Louis. Holding the puck on the right wing, Alex Pietrangelo fired a breakout pass that was picked off by Latendresse, who went in on goal and backhanded it high to the glove side of Halak for a 2-0 lead.

St. Louis ended Harding's chance at a shutout with just 2:02 remaining in the third period when Pietrangelo fired a wrister from the right point that was stopped by Harding, but Langenbrunner was on the doorstep to slam home the rebound to make it 2-1.

"We got down two and it was one too many," Blues forward Matt D'Agostini said. "We have to focus on bearing down and not letting those lapses hurt us."

Game Notes

The Wild took three of four meetings from the Blues last season...Minnesota leads the all-time series between the teams, 21-12-8...Ten of Minnesota's 13 games this season have been decided by one goal. They are 5-2-3 in one-goal affairs...The Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play, while St. Louis was 0-for-4 with the man advantage...The Blues will face the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, while Minnesota will travel to Calgary to face the Flames, also on Tuesday.