Wild left feeling Blue in a shootout
St. Louis Blues (4) vs Minnesota Wild (3) - SO......
The Minnesota Wild hosted the Western Conference's top team in the St.Louis Blues on Saturday night. St.Louis trying to keep their slim lead on Anaheim while the Wild just hoped to keep pace with Vancouver and Arizona in the race for a chance to host a playoff series opener.
The Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes on two special teams goals, both by Jiri Hudler (18,19th). The first came at 15:44 while the Wild were a man short. Hudler deflected a Jay Bouwmeester slapper that squeaked through a screened Niklas Backstrom. Then with just four seconds left in the first Hudler struck again as he wristed a shot past Backstrom that the goalie wish he could do over. Minny led in shots 12-10 after 20.
The middle stanza was uneventful with Minny holing a 23-16 shot lead after forty minutes.
Hudler would add his third point on the night as he assisted on Tyler Bozak's twenty-first goal of the season on the powerplay. Bozak, got ahold of his own rebound and hammered the puck past a bewildered Backstrom. Just when the game looked out of reach, the Blues found their second wind and rattled off a trio of goals in three minutes and fifteen seconds to tie the game at 3-3 after sixty minutes, Jiri Tlusty scored his 6th on the powerplay at 13:15 as he snapped a Komarov rebound over an out-stretched Antti Niemi. Roman Horak made it 3-2 at 16:01 as he got to the lose puck off a face-off and drilled it through Niemi's legs. At 16:30, Travis Zajac beat Kyle Brodziak in the circle to the left of Niemi and simply hammered the puck where it dropped, catching the tender back on his heels to tie the game at threes to send the game into extra time.
There was no scoring in overtime, so off to shoot-out they went. The Blues' Tomas Kopecky was the only shooter to hit pay-dirt in the "skills competition", thus bringing St.Louis all the way back for the win.
MOLSON 3 STARS:
1 - Jiri Hudler (Min)......... 2 goals, 1 assist, +1, 3 shots. Staked his team to an early lead they managed to squander.
2 - Tyler Bozak (Min)....... 1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 5 shots. Led Wild in shots, was all over the ice.
3 - Roman Horak (St.L)...... 1 goal, +1. Played just short of ten minutes, recorded his first WCHL goal.
The Minnesota Wild hosted the Western Conference's top team in the St.Louis Blues on Saturday night. St.Louis trying to keep their slim lead on Anaheim while the Wild just hoped to keep pace with Vancouver and Arizona in the race for a chance to host a playoff series opener.
The Wild jumped out to a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes on two special teams goals, both by Jiri Hudler (18,19th). The first came at 15:44 while the Wild were a man short. Hudler deflected a Jay Bouwmeester slapper that squeaked through a screened Niklas Backstrom. Then with just four seconds left in the first Hudler struck again as he wristed a shot past Backstrom that the goalie wish he could do over. Minny led in shots 12-10 after 20.
The middle stanza was uneventful with Minny holing a 23-16 shot lead after forty minutes.
Hudler would add his third point on the night as he assisted on Tyler Bozak's twenty-first goal of the season on the powerplay. Bozak, got ahold of his own rebound and hammered the puck past a bewildered Backstrom. Just when the game looked out of reach, the Blues found their second wind and rattled off a trio of goals in three minutes and fifteen seconds to tie the game at 3-3 after sixty minutes, Jiri Tlusty scored his 6th on the powerplay at 13:15 as he snapped a Komarov rebound over an out-stretched Antti Niemi. Roman Horak made it 3-2 at 16:01 as he got to the lose puck off a face-off and drilled it through Niemi's legs. At 16:30, Travis Zajac beat Kyle Brodziak in the circle to the left of Niemi and simply hammered the puck where it dropped, catching the tender back on his heels to tie the game at threes to send the game into extra time.
There was no scoring in overtime, so off to shoot-out they went. The Blues' Tomas Kopecky was the only shooter to hit pay-dirt in the "skills competition", thus bringing St.Louis all the way back for the win.
MOLSON 3 STARS:
1 - Jiri Hudler (Min)......... 2 goals, 1 assist, +1, 3 shots. Staked his team to an early lead they managed to squander.
2 - Tyler Bozak (Min)....... 1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 5 shots. Led Wild in shots, was all over the ice.
3 - Roman Horak (St.L)...... 1 goal, +1. Played just short of ten minutes, recorded his first WCHL goal.
