Perron has hat trick, Husso gets shutout to help Blues top Wild in Game 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- David Perron scored a hat trick and had an assist, and Ville Husso made 37 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center on Monday.

It was Husso's first career start in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is the first goalie in Blues history to get a shutout in his postseason debut.
"It feels good to get the win, for sure," Husso said. "I was a little nervous before, like normally, but got a good start for the game. Guys battled hard. The penalty kill was unreal. Power play was good (2-for-6), so it was a big win for us."
Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and an assist for St. Louis, the No. 3 seed in the Central Division, which was 6-for-6 on the penalty kill. Torey Krug had three assists.
Game 2 will be played here Wednesday.
RELATED: [Complete Wild vs. Blues series coverage]
"[The] next game, I think it's going to be a lot different," Perron said. "If they grab the first goal tonight, it's probably a different game. It's huge in playoffs to get the first one. We've just got to turn the page and get ready for the next one."
Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Wild, the No. 2 seed in the Central.
"That's our season," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "Our special teams has not been very good. … For us to have success, we've got to stay out of the box and we've got to play 5-on-5 because we really, really liked our game 5-on-5."

Perron scored on a power play at 6:15 of the first period with a snap shot stick side to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
The goal came after Fleury made a save on a penalty shot against Ivan Barbashev at 3:50. Barbashev was hooked by Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin on a shorthanded breakaway.
O'Reilly made it 2-0 on a rebound at 15:56.
"It was a good way to get into the game early on, if you make the save," Fleury said. "I thought we had a good start. The team was skating well, and we had the puck a bunch. I wanted to make the save and keep the momentum going for us. That was fun. The crowd got on their feet and stuff, it's just too bad [about] the rest of the game."

Perron scored on a power play of Brayden Schenn's shot to make it 3-0 at 16:30 of the second period, then completed the hat trick at 12:34 of the third period on a rebound from the left face-off circle for the 4-0 final.
He became the first player in Blues history to score a hat trick in the first game of the playoffs.
"Yeah, after all these years, it's a long way coming for many reasons, many ways, so obviously I'm proud of that," Perron said. "It's super cool. I have a lot of pride wearing the 'Blue Note,' and yeah, I'll leave it at that."
Husso made 14 saves in each of the first two periods, and nine in the third to preserve the shutout.
"Husso made some good saves," Wild forward Kevin Fiala said. "You can't say we didn't try. We had great opportunities 5-on-5 and on the power play as well. We hit the bar, I don't know how many times today (three); it can go the other way and it looks differently.
"But we have to let it go now. It's Game 1 and it's playoff hockey. It's best-of-7. We have to be ready for the next one."

NOTES:O'Reilly leads the Blues with 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists) in the playoffs since joining them in 2018-19. … Including the regular season, St. Louis has won eight straight against Minnesota. …Wild forward Mats Zuccarello was minus-1 with two shots and one takeaway in 19:43 total ice time in his first game back after missing three because of a lower-body injury.