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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.