Blues at Wild | Recap

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Pavel Buchnevich scored the go-ahead goal with 3:39 remaining in the third period for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Sunday.

Jimmy Snuggerud found the loose puck off the wall and backhanded it to Buchnevich at the right dot for the low  wrist shot to make it 2-1 at 16:21.

“What I really liked was how poised and calm we were,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “The bench and the way we managed the game through three periods, because the second period wasn't by any means a real good period by us. We had turnovers, but we protected the middle of the ice and we let our goaltender see pucks.”

STL@MIN: Buchnevich finishes Snuggerud's pass in 3rd period

Buchnevich also tallied an assist, Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Joel Hofer made 22 saves for St. Louis (22-29-9), which had lost four of five, including 3-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

“We play great third period,” Buchnevich said. “On the road, on back-to-back, it’s tough. After two periods, it’s 1-1, not a bad result. Third period was our best, we didn’t give out much, score a big goal and shut them down."

It was Thomas’ first game since Jan. 10. The forward missed the past 13 games with a lower-body injury and has been away from the team for personal reasons since Wednesday.

“It’s always tough missing a month,” Thomas said. “I mean, game kind of felt better as the game went on and I felt pretty good.” 

Kirill Kaprizov tied Marian Gaborik for most goals in franchise history (219) and extended his point streak to seven games (six goals, four assists) with the lone goal for Minnesota (35-16-10), which has lost two straight but is 6-2-0 in its past eight. Filip Gustavsson made 21 saves.

“I thought it was a hard-fought game,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we had enough looks to be able to get more than one goal. … I thought we did some things that we needed to do. Sometimes you can play a hard-fought game and not find a way to win it."

Kaprizov made it 1-0 on the power play at 16:09 of the second period when Quinn Hughes sent a saucer pass across to Matt Boldy, who picked it up on the backhand and sent it to Kaprizov at the left post for the redirect past Hofer.

With the primary assist on the goal, Boldy extended his point streak to nine games (eight goals, 10 assists).

“I think we got to the net a lot today, and we have so many chances,” Kaprizov said. “Goalie played pretty good. I think we sometimes can do a little bit more side to side passing, shooting because we try to shoot just straight sometimes, and it just goes a little far away from the net. Just shoot on him and he did a couple good saves, too. Yeah, but I feel like we played pretty good and so many chances.”

STL@MIN: Kaprizov gives Wild lead with PPG in 2nd period

Logan Mailloux responded to tie it 1-1 at 18:05 with a snap shot from the top of the right circle after getting the pass from Thomas on the rush.

Hofer kept it 2-1 at 19:26 after Wild forward Mats Zuccarello forced a turnover and found Vladimir Tarasenko for a point-blank shot.

“It was a little scramble play, broken play, and then just tried to get out and take up as much space as I could,” Hofer said. “I'm lucky I made the save.”

Thomas scored into the empty net at 19:35 for the 3-1 final.

NOTES: St. Louis snapped a 10-game road losing streak dating back to Dec. 20 (6-2 at the Florida Panthers). … Wild forward Marcus Foligno did not play with a lower-body injury. No timeline was provided. … Hughes factored on Kaprizov’s goal and moved within one point of his fifth consecutive 60-point season (55 games), which would match the sixth most by a defenseman in NHL history. The only blueliners with more: Ray Bourque (13 from 1981-82 to 1993-94), Paul Coffey (13 from 1981-82 to 1993-94), Phil Housley (11 from 1982-83 to 1992-93), Al MacInnis (eight from 1984-85 to 1991-92) and Bobby Orr (seven from 1968-69 to 1974-75).