NHL - Playoffs - Round 1 - St Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild - Blues Win Series 4-1

Game 1 - Wednesday, April 12, 2017 - Blues Win 2-1 OT

Jake Allen made 51 saves, and Joel Edmundson scored at 17:48 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center. Zach Parise ended Allen's shutout when he scored with 22 seconds remaining in the third period. Allen's teammates and coaches were impressed with his performance. Sobotka scored when he took a pass from Alexander Steen and let go a shot that deflected off Christian Folin and got past Dubnyk. The Wild outshot the Blues 52-26.

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* Vladimir Tarasenko pushed toward the net with a shot that rebounded for Edmundson's put-away.
"That's up there for the best one," said Edmundson, who had three goals in 69 games during the regular season. "It beats the one last year in Dallas [in the playoffs]. I'm just happy the team could get the win tonight."

* Allen robbed Charlie Coyle of a sure goal with a glove save at 16:38 of the second period to preserve a 1-0 lead.

* Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester helped clear the crease from a near-tying goal at 10:38 of the third period. Bouwmeester had two blocked shots and one takeaway in 30:53 of ice time.

* Mikael Granlund passed to Mikko Koivu, who perfectly fed Parise for the tying goal on a crisp tic-tac-toe play.
* Vladimir Sobotka played in his first playoff game with the Blues since 2014 after spending the three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League. … The Wild recalled Steve Michalek from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Wednesday to be their third goalie. Sobotka gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 6:21 of the second period.

Blues Quotes

"They threw a lot at me, but it's my job to stop the puck and give the boys a chance, and they scored the goal. Big win for us."
"[There were] a lot of shots from tough angles. I did a pretty decent job of keeping pucks away from their players. That's their forte; that's how they score, they crash the net, they have a lot of skilled guys that can make quick plays in front of the net, so we're going to expect the same and hopefully it goes well Friday." Jake Allen said.

"One word: amazing. A really good game." Vladimir Sobotka

"I thought [Sobotka] was phenomenal. Really not much to say. He was outstanding. He was challenged in so many situations and certainly stepped up."

"We're not kidding ourselves. We know we have to be better. We found a way to win a hockey game, but we'll find a way to get better." Mike Yeo said.

Wild Quotes

"We gave ourselves a chance at least. We extended the game, and then you never know what can happen in overtime. But you've got to score more than one."

"Win or lose, short memories are important. You still have to look at the good things that we did and look at where we can be better. Unfortunately right now, we're down 1-0 [in the series] and now we've got to even it up." Parise said.

"I wouldn't say it wasn't good enough. Obviously the outcome wasn't there, but I think [if] we play like that every game, we're probably going to get the results we want, and that's the important thing. When a game like that doesn't finish how you want it to, [you've] just got to keep doing what you're doing. We stick to that game, we're going to be tough to beat." Devan Dubnyk said.  
"Keep your head up. You've got to win four, and it's a long series. I thought we played a good game." Bruce Boudreau.

Game 2 - Friday, April 14, 2017 - Blues Win 2-1
Jaden Schwartz scored with 2:27 left in the third period to give the St. Louis Blues a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center. The Blues, who took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series with their second 2-1 road win. Joel Edmundson, who scored the overtime winner for St. Louis on Wednesday, scored at 3:51 of the second period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. The defenseman had three goals in 69 games during the regular season and scored in consecutive games for the first time in his two NHL seasons. Zach Parise tied it 1-1 at 17:44 of the second with a 5-on-3 power-play goal. Parise also scored the tying goal in Game 1.
Jake Allen made 23 saves for St. Louis and has stopped 74 of 76 shots winning back-to-back postseason starts for the first time. Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves for Minnesota.

* Schwartz shot over Dubnyk's glove for the game-winner. The forward has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his past 13 games.

* Allen denied Jason Pominville on a point-blank wrist shot at 11:21 of the third period to keep it 1-1.

* Blues forward Kyle Brodziak cleared a loose puck from the goal mouth at 7:06 of the third period to keep it tied.

* Parise got to a loose puck after Jay Bouwmeester blocked a shot by Eric Staal and lifted it top shelf for the tying goal.
* Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo had two hits playing 12:35 in his first game after missing six with an upper-body injury. … St. Louis is 10-2 in series after taking a 2-0 lead.

Blues Quotes

"We didn't lose Game 1, we did enough things to win a hockey game. Obviously Jake was outstanding in that game, but he wears a jersey for a reason. He's part of our group. I think what we saw in Game 1 was it was a very even game until we got the lead and then we backed off a little bit. So we knew we had to be more aggressive, more assertive in our game. We knew we had to tweak a couple things and adjust a little bit and find a way to get better between (Games) 1 and 2 and I think we did that today. And now we're going to have to do the same thing [in Game 3]." Mike Yeo
"It's a good start for us, but the job's not over yet. We know the last two are going to be the hardest and it starts in Game 3. They're going to throw everything at us, and we're excited to go home for sure. We did a good job so far, but we know it's going to get a lot tougher."
"You learn how desperate a team can play. When we were down one game to none in a different series (against the Dallas Stars in the second round last year), you want to come back with a really good effort in the second game. It only gets harder from here on out. We're happy with the win tonight, but our focus has to turn to Sunday." Schwartz said.

"Maybe back in Peewee when I was a forward or something like that, [I scored in consecutive games], but no, not in the pro level, no." Edmundson said.

Wild Quotes

"Obviously we have to score goals. It's tough to win games when you're having a tough time scoring. Just focus on the next game and try to find a way to get the puck behind the goalie." Ryan Suter said.
"When it's tight like that, any play can be the difference, and we've just got to keep playing. It's one game at a time, and we know we're one play or one breakaway from getting that goal we need to win the game." Dubnyk said.
"Both games were 2-1. If they were 6-0 or something, I'd say it's going to be a tough task [to dig out]. Not that it's not going to be a tough task, but let's face it, both games could've gone either way. So I don't see why we can't go in there and do the same thing to them that they did to us. This is what happened last year, when (the Anaheim Ducks) went into Nashville and won the next three games. So it's not impossible." Bruce Boudreau said.

Game 3 - Sunday, April 16, 2017 - Blues Win 3-1
The chants for Jake Allen were deafening. It's been that kind of run for the St. Louis Blues goaltender. For the third time in as many games, Allen was the difference-maker, with 40 saves in a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Scottrade Center. Allen has stopped 114 of 117 shots in three games against Minnesota and has a 0.91 goals-against average and .974 save percentage. On multiple occasions chants of 'Al-len!, Al-len!, Al-len!' resonated from the 19,334 in attendance. Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist, and Colton Parayko and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues. Charlie Coyle scored and Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves for the Wild, who were held to one goal for the third straight game. Parayko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 3:25 into the first period, getting the kind of start the Blues needed, giving their fans the jump they wanted. The Wild tied it 1-1 at 12:59 of the second on Coyle's goal, Minnesota's first at 5-on-5 in the series. Schwartz put St. Louis ahead 2-1 with its first power-play goal (1-for-9) of the series at 15:19. Steen scored an empty-net goal at 18:49 of the third to make it 3-1.

* Schwartz had little time and space in tight on Dubnyk, but he outworked Wild defenseman Marco Scandella and was able to score after Steen's pass from behind the net into the short side.

* Allen stopped a wrist shot from Wild defenseman Ryan Suter with 9:43 left in the second period. Suter's shot caromed off Scottie Upshall's stick, and Allen, square to the shooter, was able to recover and make an alert glove save to keep it a 1-0 game.

* Dubnyk made a breakaway save on Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko with 8:48 remaining in the game to keep the Wild in it at 2-1.

* Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson, who scored goals in each of the first two games, played 19:17 and again was a factor. He broke up a 2-on-1 play in the second period, knocking away Eric Staal's pass that would have sent Coyle in alone on Allen at 14:52 of the second period.

* The Wild made two lineup changes. Defensemen Nate Prosser replaced Christian Folin and forward Ryan White replaced Joel Eriksson Ek.

Blues Quotes

"It's been the same. They've stuck to their game plan and we've stuck to ours and it was a real tough test for us out there the second half of the game. They pushed really hard and put us on our heels a bit and we grinded and we got it done. A huge win for us. ... The next game is going to be even harder, so we're going to have to take the next two days to rest up and be ready for the hardest game yet." Jake Allen said.
Allen was asked what the crowd chanting meant to him.
"That we've got loud fans. I don't really get caught up in it, but it's nice to see support from the fans."
"He's fantastic. I'm not very good with words. I don't use big words. I'll just say fantastic is about the biggest one I can figure out. Lights-out, I guess. He's calm back there. Anytime we need a save, a whistle, he's there. We're going to need him the rest of the way." Alex Pietrangelo said.
"One-hundred percent, they were fun. Loud, fun to be a part of and when you have them on your side, it makes things a lot better." Parayko said.

Wild Quotes

"I don't think we're playing that bad. We had 79 shots at their net today, compared to, I think it was 47. Not that that's an indicator of anything, there are some parts of our game that could be better, there's no doubt in my mind. The one thing I'm not going to criticize is our effort. These guys are trying right to the end; they're trying as bad as everybody. They want to bring it home to Minnesota but right now, it's just not working." Bruce Boudreau said.
"We have to find ways. They pack it in pretty tight. We've been saying it the last three games. It's kind of getting old, obviously. We've got to find a way to get pucks through. We need more traffic, get inside their [defensemen]. We've got to find ways to score whatever it is. It's now or never. Pretty tired of talking about it, we've just got to go out and prove it." Charlie Coyle said.

Game 4 - Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - Blues Lose 0-2
Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves for the second Stanley Cup Playoff shutout of his career, and the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 2-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Scottrade Center. Charlie Coyle and Martin Hanzal scored for the Wild, who had three goals in the first three games of the series. Blues goalie Jake Allen made 26 saves. Coyle made it 1-0 after picking off Allen's pass around the boards and shooting it into an empty net at 16:50 of the first period. It gave the Wild their first lead 214:38 into the series. The Blues thought the play was going to be whistled down for icing. Allen and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo were there near the puck, and when Allen whipped it from behind his net off the side boards, Coyle intercepted it. Hanzal scored to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead at 16:41 of the second period. The goal came after the Blues, who were outshot 11-4 in the first period, came with some of their biggest charges towards the Wild net.

* Nate Prosser passed out of the Wild zone to Pominville for a quick lay-off pass at the red line for Hanzal, who built up a burst of speed through the neutral zone. Hanzal gained the blue line, and with Blues defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester laying back, Hanzal snapped a shot past Allen's blocker from above the faceoff circles. "It was good because it was the first time we've played with a lead," Hanzal said. "It makes them have to make an effort to push back."

* Dubnyk, who had faced 16 shots entering the third period, made a save on Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson's shot from the left circle on a rush with 16:45 remaining in the game. "You've just got to try to stay sharp, try to get some puck handles in if you can, and don't force it," Dubnyk said.

* Despite a rare mistake in the series leading to the first Wild goal, Allen did his best to keep the Blues in the game. Following a Pietrangelo turnover, he made a left-pad save on Nino Niederreiter's shot from the left circle while sliding from his left to right at 7:34 of the second period.

* Defenseman Marco Scandella had four of the Wild's 28 hits, three shots on goal and three blocked shots in 24:22 of ice time, second-most on Minnesota behind Ryan Suter (25:22).

* Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek replaced injured center Erik Haula (upper body) in the Wild lineup. Haula was minus-2 with five shots on goal the first three games of the series. ... The Blues are 2-4 in closeout games the past two seasons.

Blues Quotes

"It took a little bit for us to get going. They obviously came out hard and played a really good 40 minutes, they played a pretty solid defensive third period. We had a really good push in the third, and it was a little too late." Allen said.
"We started turning it a little bit, but again, details of our game that cost us that one. Again, I think throughout the course of the game we were just a second off. We needed to be a little quicker, a little sharper to create the havoc and earn those goals." Alexander Steen said.

"We just came out slow. I thought we were a little casual to start the game, and you know they were taking advantage of it there in the first (period), but we got the pressure on there in the third." Alex Pietrangelo said.

Wild Quotes

"We just said coming into this game, we need to win one game and this is the only thing that matters is this one game. This was our Stanley Cup. And that's gonna be the same thing on Saturday, because if not, it's over, and we're not gonna think any further ahead than that. It's gonna be the exact same approach on Saturday, and we'll see where the score is when the buzzer ends and move forward." Dubnyk said.
"With the two days off, I thought they handled it well among themselves. They didn't let themselves get down. They faced some bad times in the last six weeks and they didn't get themselves down. [Heck], it's only one game. They still have a tremendous advantage up three games to one. I think we can play a lot better still than we played tonight. It's going to still be an uphill battle."
"It was one bounce. We're happy to get it. They did what they were asked to do on that play. We got a break and we hadn't had too many breaks in the first three games. We'll take any break we can get." Bruce Boudreau said.
"We worked hard. We did what we had to do to win. It wasn't always the prettiest of hockey. Again, we did what we set out to do, which was come here and get one. That was the first step." Zach Parise

Game 5 - Saturday, April 22, 2017 - Blues Win 4-3 OT
Magnus Paajarvi scored 9:42 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a series-ending 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center. St. Louis won the best-of-7 series 4-1 and will play the Nashville Predators in the second round. Paajarvi took a backhand pass from Vladimir Sobotka in the slot and scored on goalie Devan Dubnyk. Paajarvi is the seventh Blues player to score a series-clinching overtime goal, the first since Pierre Turgeon in Game 7 of the 1999 Western Quarterfinals against the Phoenix Coyotes. Minnesota was eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round for the second straight year. It finished the regular season second in the Western Conference with a Wild-record 106 points. The Wild scored two goals in the third period to tie the game. Jason Zucker made it 3-3 with 5:01 remaining, after Mikko Koivu scored a power-play goal with 9:22 left. Vladimir Tarasenko, who was held scoreless through 265:04 of the series, scored at 7:16 of the first period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Alexander Steen made it 2-0 at 10:31 after Blues defenseman Colton Parayko intercepted a clearing attempt by Wild forward Charlie Coyle and fed Steen for a wrist shot to the corner. Ryan Suter scored at 18:31 to make it 2-1. It was the first 5-on-4 power-play goal for Minnesota in the series. Paul Stastny, who returned after missing 14 games with a knee injury, scored at 7:23 of the third period for a 3-1 lead. Jake Allen made 34 saves for the Blues. He allowed eight goals on 182 shots in the series, including 51 saves in a 2-1, Game 1 overtime win. Minnesota center Eric Staal left the game with 6:07 left in the second period after sliding headfirst into the boards. The Wild said he was stable and alert and was taken to the hospital for observation.

* Sobotka pulled back on the puck and hit Paajarvi with a perfect pass for the game-winner.
"It's such a good play, Sobotka's patience with the puck," Paajarvi said. "He's stronger than you think with the puck. My guy kind of went to him and he saw that and gave it to me. Super thrilled."

* Dubnyk stopped Patrik Berglund on a wraparound at 17:20 of the third period to keep the game tied 3-3.

* Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon stopped the puck from crossing the goal line with his skate at 6:29 of the second period to keep it 2-1.

* Zucker got a step on the breakaway and used patience to beat Allen stick side for his first goal of the postseason.

* Nashville swept the Chicago Blackhawks in their first-round series which ended Thursday. … Tarasenko is the fifth player to score at least 20 Stanley Cup Playoff goals for St. Louis (Brett Hull, Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Red Berenson). … The Blues are 35-31 in overtime during the playoffs (2-0 in 2017)‬. The Wild are 8-10. … Wild forward Erik Haula played 16:16 after missing Game 4 with an undisclosed injury. … Minnesota was eliminated by the Dallas Stars in six games.

Blues Quotes

"Really happy to finish it tonight. [Minnesota's] a group that definitely ... I know it's tough they didn't get the win, but they gave us more than anything we could handle, and obviously Bruce [Boudreau (coach)] has done a great job, Chuck [Fletcher (general manager)] has done a great job and their team did a great job. They showed a lot of character." Mike Yeo said.
"You don't get a whole lot of chances in OT. Sobotka and [Jori] Lehtera really worked a good chance out for me, and that was nice to see it go in." Paajarvi said.
"It's playoff hockey at its finest, really. Ups and downs for both sides. It was a battle, it was a grind and we got it done. It was a battle. It's just physical and had everything. There was offense, there was a lot of good defense on both sides, it was physical, it was tough, and every game was close. There wasn't a blowout game. Every game was basically one goal besides the 3-1 empty-netter, so it's going to be an even tougher series the next one. You saw what [Nashville] did to Chicago, obviously they're playing their best games of the year and they'll be ready." Allen said.

Wild Quotes

"It's a best-of-7 series, if you get through you deserve it. I'm not going to take anything away from them, but I thought so too. I thought we outshot them, I don't know scoring chances, I'm not a big stat guy, but I thought we had the momentum there for the most part and it seemed like they had that one chance and they put it in." Mikko Koivu said.

"[I] just told them I was proud of their effort for the year. I know this is the part of the year that everybody including myself hates the most, when you put eight months into something and you don't get what you want. They never quit all year. When things were going bad, they still never quit, they kept pushing. I thought when they made it 3-1 we could've said, 'Aww, heck. It was a valiant try.' They kept pushing and I thought the last three or four minutes of the third period I thought we could've had another one and we could've won the game." Boudreau said.

"Usually you remember what you last saw so, unfortunately, [we're] going to remember getting knocked out in five games." Zach Parise said.