In St Paul Tuesday night, Eric Staal struck for a hat trick in an 8-3 win for the Minnesota Wild over the visiting St Louis Blues.
“Once the hats started coming, I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I knew it wasn’t a hat trick because [Granlund] told me he touched that one before it went in,” Staal said. “I celebrated a good assist on that one. … It was one of those nights. It was fun. Our line was buzzing. We were feeling it. We had the puck following us around. Big win.”
Staal added two assists for five points on the night.
Jason Zucker had a goal and Mikael Granlund. added two for the Wild.
Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves to get the win, the fifth straight for the Wild who improved to 36-20-7.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice, and Alex Pietrangelo added a goal for the Blues who have now lost seven straight and are in a tail spin; their record dropped to 34-26-4.
“The score is on the scoreboard and there’s not much to say about that game,” Tarasenko said. “Whatever we have now is not enough. That’s it.”
Mikko Koivu and Jared Spurgeon also scored for the Wild.
“If [Staal] was playing in Toronto, he’d be up for the MVP. … He’s done everything for us. … He does it so quietly. He has played with a smorgasbord of players this year, this is the longest he’s been on one line all year, and he’s never complained. He never says a word. ‘Whatever you need to do. Put him with me, I’ll get him going.’ He’s a great teammate like that,” Boudreau said after the win.
[WATCH: All Blues vs. Wild highlights]
Jake Allen got the start for St Louis but was given the hook in the fist intermission after giving up three goals and making just eight shots in the fist period.
“It’s a matter of pride as far as I’m concerned. You give up eight goals, come on. We’ve given up 16 in the last three games. We’ve always been one of the top defensive teams,” Blues head coach Mike Yeo said. “The turnovers that we have and the lack of respect that we have for our goaltenders and for the game of hockey, that’s ridiculous. We have guys that aren’t scoring and aren’t contributing defensively and are not showing nearly enough as far as what they want to bring to the table in terms of playing for their teammates and defending and being hard to play against.”
Carter Hutton made 20 saves in relief over the final 40 minutes of play.
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