Coming into game four, the St. Louis Blues brought with them a nine-game road losing streak, part of a futility period where the club lost 17 of their last 19 postseason, out-of-town contests. Judging from their play Wednesday night, it is difficult to recognize the team which showed up to play the host Minnesota Wild. That team could not be found during a 6-1 victory at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul.
In tying the series with Minnesota, the Blues relied on scoring from all four lines with the defense logging big minutes and rookie goaltender Jake Allen continuing his stellar playing in a fourth straight game. It didn’t take long for St. Louis to show they were a different team than Monday night and it came from an unlikely source just more than five minutes into the game.
That is when while applying pressure in the Minnesota zone, the Blues’ Chris Porter, seeing his first action of the series, dug the puck out o the corner sending it back to the right point where a waiting Alex Pietrangelo stood guard. He found Ryan Reaves to his left where he sent a pass the St. Louis bruiser fired at the net, eluding Devan Dubnyk to open the scoring. It would be the first of several questionable goals to get past the often impenetrable goaltender.
A little more than a minute later, St. Louis padded their lead. Blues’ captain David Backes accepted a cross-ice pass at the near boards and skated into the offensive zone. Backes slid the puck to his left where a streaking Kevin Shattenkirk was joining the play. He sent a drive on net which was tipped by Vladimir Tarasenko passed Dubnyk for the goal.
There was more and it came three minutes later and with St. Louis’ next shot on goal. The Blues’ T.J. Oshie shielded the puck on the near boards and sent the puck back to Kevin Shattenkirk. The All-Star defenseman sent a drive on Dubnyk that was stopped, but trickled through, but not over the line. While being abused by the Minnesota defense, David Backes scrambled over Dubnyk to poke the puck into the net for a 3-0 lead.
The period closed with St. Louis holding the lead in shots 10-4, a stark contrast in how game three played out.
Minnesota sought to get back into the game after the first intermission and while on the power play, were able to get on the scoreboard. While Steve Ott was off for high-sticking Jared Spurgeon, the Wild defenseman took it upon himself to strike late in the man-advantage. With the puck sent back to the left point, Spurgeon laid into a blast to beat a screened Allen to close the lead to 3-1.
But St. Louis answered just two minutes later when Paul Stastny accepted a cross-ice leas pass to the near boards from Patrik Berglund and beat Dubnyk low between the legs for a 4-1 lead. It was Stastny’s first playoff goal with the Blues. It was the first time since January 20th Dubnyk had given up four goals when he was pulled after facing just 10 shots in less than half the game.
Midway through the period, Dubnyk was banged around in front of the goal by David Backes, sending the Wild netminder down and in an awkward position. As play continued, Dubnyk faced a shot on goal, blocking it on the inside, unpadded part of his left leg. At the next whistle, the Minnesota trainer came to see Dubnyk’s condition, determined he was fit to play and he remained in the game.
In being shaken by the assault from St. Louis and the physical play which seemed to take Dubnyk off his game, the Wild goaltender misplayed a dump-in less than a minute later, giving it up to an attacking T.J. Oshie who nearly netted St. Louis’ fifth goal of the game. Not longer after the gaffe, St. Louis did net its’ fifth marker and it came from the stick of the Blues’ most lethal scorer.
Adding to the highlight reel of goals and this one similar to the clever strike he made against the New York Rangers earlier in the season, Vladimir Tarasenko shined. While fighting off two Minnesota defenseman, the Russian sniper accepted a pass from Jori Lehtera on a play which originated deep in the St. Louis zone by defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Tarasenko broke in alone and with a head fake and body moving left, continued with the backhand of his stick right as he crashed into the boards.
Less than a minute later, a surging Patrik Berglund closed out the scoring for St. Louis with a nifty backhand roofed into the net past Dubnyk to make it 6-1. The Wild netminder, having been the single reason for his team’s vault into the playoffs, had given up 6 goals on 17 shots.
Having seen enough, Minnesota coach Mike Yeo pulled Dubnyk in favor of Darcy Kuemper, who stopped all 8 shots he faced the remainder of the game. An uneventful final period allowed St. Louis to coast to victory. Despite the poor outing by Dubnyk, he is expected to start game five.
For St. Louis, it marked an offensive explosion, led by two All-Stars. Vladimir Tarasenko netted two goals to push his league-leading playoff goals to 5. In St. Louis’ two first-round victories, he is +3 with five goals. In the two losses, he has no goals and is a -3.
With three assists in game four, defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk increased his assist and point total to seven, tied for the league lead in points with Anaheim’s Corey Perry, a leading reason why they closed out the Jets in a four-game sweep at Winnipeg.
A resurgent Patrik Berglund has two goals and two assists for four points and a +5 rating in the four games, tops on the team. During the regular season, he registered 12 goals and 15 points with a -3 rating in 77 games.
In goaltenders who have played at least three games, rookie Jake Allen is second to fellow rookie Scott Darling of Chicago with a goals against average of 1.51. He continues to shine and give the Blues a confidence needed during a grueling playoff run.
Game five is set for the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Friday, April 24th at 8:30 PM Central time. Game six will return to St. Paul on Sunday, April 26th at a time to be determined. If a decisive game seven is needed, it will come back to St. Louis on Wednesday, April 29th.
Follow me on Twitter at DMMORRELL
You must be logged in to post a comment.