In St Paul, the Wild responded to their less than thrilling effort in Game 1 of their series with the St Louis Blues. On Wednesday night, Minnesota three times in the first period enroute to a 6-2 win.
The victory ties the series, 1-1.
The Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov hit for a hat trick in the win.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to change anything from Game 1 (a 4-0 loss),” Kaprizov said. “I even think in Game 1 there were some chances that didn’t go in for us. So in Game 2, just try to stick to the same recipe, do the same thing, and obviously things worked out. So really just trying not to focus on it too much. Just play the game.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in the Minnesota win.
Game 3 is in St Louis on Friday night .
Jordan Kyrou scored for St Louis after the Wild had taken a 4-0 lead in the middle frame.
“Yeah, a couple bad breaks,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “That’s the way it goes. Our guys competed all 60 minutes, played hard. You’ve got to try and find a way to get some second and third opportunities around the paint a little bit more, and Fleury made some big saves.”
Joel Eriksson Ek hit for a double for the Wild.
“You’ve got to be at the right place at the right time,” Eriksson Ek said. “You can’t say that everything is luck. It’s about being on the inside and being on the right side of guys and getting to those loose pucks.”
Frederick Gaudreau added a single marker for the Wild, his strike gave them a 2-0 lead in the first period.
“We talked after [Game 1 about] what he’s going to have to do, or what are we going to have to do, to free [Kaprizov] up,” Evason said. “We’re not going to have to do anything. He’s just going to do what he does. He’s just going to play hard. Sure, he’s got two, three people around him, they’re trying to hit him. He’s just going to play through it. He just stays the course, just goes about his business. It shouldn’t surprise. … He takes it as a big challenge, and he did tonight and had a great game.”
Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Blues.
Ville Husso made 22 saves in the Blues loss.
“I liked our push even throughout the whole game,” St Louis’ Robert Thomas said. “I thought 5-on-5 we played pretty well. I think we’re pretty happy with (that). I mean, it felt like we were coming on, coming on, and a couple posts, a couple crossbars, and [Fleury] made some big saves over there, so you have to give him some credit.
“But I think we ought to be happy with our push and clean up a couple areas. We’re happy with our game.”
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