MINNEAPOLIS — After 20 close minutes of hockey, Jordan Kyrou decided enough was enough. 
The fourth-year St. Louis forward took some of the buzz out of a sold-out Target Field with a hand in four of the five Blues goals in the second period in a 6-4 Winter Classic victory over the Minnesota Wild, in a battle for first place in the Central Division.
The four points — two goals and two assists — were the most scored in an NHL outdoor game.
“Obviously it’s unbelievable, right?,” said Kyrou. “Anytime we get to play in a Winter Classic, it’s pretty cool. As a kid, it’s something you’re always watching and dreaming of playing in. And it’s a big game against Minnesota and they’re right up there in the standings.”
The first period was marred by slow, sluggish play with significant puck luck resulting in the goals by St. Louis’ David Perron and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov 25 seconds apart. Perron got to a loose puck that ricocheted off Wild defenseman John Merrill, and Kaprizov scored on a pass that aimed at Mats Zuccarello, but was deflected in by Niko Mikkola.
Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly said that the difficult ice surface was something they were expecting.
“It’s different. It’s not your normal thing. But, yeah, the pucks were bouncing a lot,” he said. “The puck’s bouncing a lot, but you start to get used to it. It’s a game where there’s a lot of nuances to it.”
But in the middle frame, the Blues adjusted.
“[The Wild] are a team that likes to make plays, and obviously the ice is not the best. So we kind of tried to capitalize on their mistakes, and that’s how we got our chances,” Kyrou said. “And we capitalized on our chances.”
Kyrou broke the tie 27 seconds into the second period on a third puck-luck goal in the game. He was attempting to find Vladamir Tarasenko for a tap-in, but his pass was redirected by Ryan Hartman past Wild starting goalie Cam Talbot.
Kyrou would find Tarasenko at 8:55 of the second, where the Russian winger ripped a one-timer past Talbot. Kyrou’s second helper of the period came on the power play at 14:46, when Ivan Barbashev slammed home a rebound from a Kyrou shot.
Kyrou would get his second goal, and his work in the defensive zone got it started. He carried the puck into the Wild zone, played a give-and-go with Robert Thomas, and then picked the top corner on Talbot from the slot to make the score 5-1.
“He’s played really well for us all year,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “He’s a real good offensive player, has tons of ability. And you know, he’s on the big stage tonight. I think he showed everybody what he can do. He’s a talented guy. He’s got a great shot. Great skill, and he showed it tonight.”
Rem Pitlick got one back 40 seconds later to make it 5-2, scoring from behind the net on a pass attempt that went off the blade of Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich and the helmet of goalie Jordan Binnington into the net. But less than a minute later, Torey Krug restored the four-goal lead.
As the night got colder and the buzz seemingly draining out of the crowd of 38,619 — which had to wait an extra year to see this game be played due to the pandemic — the Wild gave the home crowd something to cheer about.
Shortly after a power play expired, Hartman scored off a great feed from Zuccarello — who took a great pass from Kaprizov after entering the zone, to make it 6-3.
With 5:38 left and the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Kevin Fiala scored on another slick pass from Kaprizov to make it 6-4. That’s when Berube used his timeout.
“It was more to take the momentum away from them as much as possible, and settle our guys down and kind of regroup and start over again,” Berube said. “They did a good job coming out in the third period and putting us on our heels a little bit. I was just trying to change momentum.”
At the final media timeout with 5:18 to go and a faceoff in the Blues’ end, the Wild had played the majority of the remaining time 6-on-5 — with the Blues unable to get a good look at the empty net.
Wild coach Dean Evason said the Blues got to their game quicker in the second period than his team did.
“We didn’t get to ours until the end,” he said. “We talked to our group about their sense of urgency. It has to be way quicker than the last 10 minutes of a hockey game when we’re pulling our goalie”
“We had a whole ton of chances to get it to one or tie it,” Evason said. “[The Blues] simplified their game and they did it with skill. We did not. We tried to make plays east and west and that can’t happen in this setting.”
The game was also the Wild’s first in 12 days, due to a string of postponements and the league’s COVID shutdown. The Blues had played a few nights ago against Edmonton.
“We haven’t played hockey in a long time,” Evason said. “The situation is what it is. We have to find a way to correct our game really quickly.”
With seven points in his last two games and his team now 7-1-1 in their past nine, Kyrou is starting elevate his game — and doing so on a big stage.
“It’s a big show today and he rose to the occasion,” Binnington said. “I’m really happy for him and you know how good he is, how hard he works so it’s really good to see. I’m happy I’m on his team for sure.”
Jill Rothwell contributed to this report.
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