ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Binnington made 35 saves and Alex Pietrangelo snapped a tie in the third period, helping the St. Louis Blues top the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Wednesday night.
Sammy Blais also scored for St. Louis, which won for the fourth time in five games. It was the first game for the Stanley Cup champions since star forward Vladimir Tarasenko had reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder.
Binnington was busy all night, facing 12 shots in every period. He improved to 6-2-3 this season.
Pietrangelo put the Blues ahead 1:39 into the third when he took a cross-ice pass from David Perron and deked Ryan Suter off his feet before roofing the puck past a sliding Devan Dubnyk for his fifth goal.
Dubnyk finished with 24 saves. Mats Zuccarello scored for the Wild, who dropped to 1-8-0 on the road.
Blais scored when his shot from along the boards 6:52 into the second period beat Dubnyk on his stick side. It was Blais' first goal since Oct. 12 at Montreal and No. 4 on the season.
Minnesota tied it at 8:43 when Zuccarello pushed a puck that bounced off Justin Faulk's stick into the crease past Binnington. Zuccarello hadn't scored since Feb. 24 at Chicago.
Ryan O'Reilly appeared to put the Blues ahead 11:07 into the second period with a shot that trickled past Dubnyk. But the goal was overturned after Minnesota challenged that Zach Sanford was offside on the play.
NOTES: Wild RW Luke Kunin played his first game in his hometown of St. Louis since making his NHL debut in 2017. Kunin grew up in the suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri. He was one of five players from St. Louis selected in the first round of the 2016 draft. ... Blues C Brayden Schenn skated in his 600th career game. ... Tarasenko will be out for approximately five months.
UP NEXT
Wild: Host St. Louis on Saturday night.
Blues: Host Columbus on Friday night.
