St. Louis Blues win 5-1 against Minnesota Wilds
They say records are meant to be broken. A Minnesota home game was not a sell-out for the first time in the franchise's history. The Wilds were on a 409 games sell-out streak since 1997 that came to an end on Wednesday at the pre-season opener against the
St. Louis Blues. 16,219 fans showed up at the Xcel Energy Centre to watch the Wilds get beaten to pulp by the St. Louis Blues.
The beating didn’t start for a while though. In fact, it was the Wilds who scored first and that too in the very first minute of the game. Just 42 seconds into the first period, winger Martin Havlat, with an assist from Captain Mikko Koivu, took the puck
26 feet into the net. Blues goaltender, Ben Bishop, was unable to stop the puck but that would be the only time the puck would get away from him. By the end of the game, Bishop had stopped 23 shots on goal.
A first minute goal got the Minnesota fans riled up but the rest of the game was going to be difficult for the Wilds. The Blues were unfazed by the early set back and prepared themselves to give the Wilds a befitting reply for their trespass into the net.
The remaining 19 minutes belonged completely to the Blues. The Wilds had four shots on goal in the first period, which were returned by 9 shots on goal by the Wilds. Three of them were converted into goals.
The first goal for the Blues didn’t come until half way into the first period. The first to score for the Blues was prospect Phillip McRae. His power play goal, off assist from wingers Brad Boyes and Adam Cracknell, came 9 minutes after Havlat tied the score.
McRae has done well and appears to be on his way to earn a spot on the roster. He was teamed with Boyes and David Perron during the training camp and left a long-lasting impression on both players. Perron said that McRae had constantly been improving and has
a lot more confidence now.
With the score tied and St. Louis constantly making plays and taking shots at Niklas Backstrom, the pressure was on the Wilds to stay in the game. Perhaps it was that pressure that got to the Wilds. Just over a minute after McRae had found an opening, the
Blues scored once again. The second goal for St. Louis came off Graham Mink’s stick. Assisting Mink in his 29 feet goal was winger David Backes. Mink’s goal put the Blues in the lead and from that point on, there was no looking back.
St. Louis attack found success again in the 16th minute of the first period during another power play. Backes came through with the assist with Perron for Alexander Steen’s 56 feet dash for goal. Steen slipped past Minnesota defences and sent
a missile into the net on the glove hand side of goaltender Niklas Backstrom. The first period might have started off well for the wild but it ended up being a complete disaster.
The second period was no better. The Wilds pushed up on the offense but goalie Bishop denied the Blues of any goal. “After their first goal, we responded really well,” Bishop said. “The guys played a great game. We really took it to them for the last 50 minutes.”
The Wilds had 9 shots on goal in this period against 9 from the Blues. Backstrom, though, was only able to stop 7 of them. The first of two second period goals was scored by David Perron with assists from defensemen Tyson Strachan and Eric Brewers in the 7th
minute. Three minutes later, Jay McClement scored again. The Blues now had a 4 goal lead and their goaltender was not letting anyone through.
In the third period, the Wilds brought goaltender Anton Khudobin on the ice. The change brought some relief to the struggling Wilds. Bishop stayed on top of his game stopping 11 shots on goal but in the third, Khudobin kept the net safe as well. The Blues
took 10 shots on goal with no success to their credit. There were no goals in the third period and the game ended 5-1.
The two teams would meet again on Friday night.
Tags: