Wild grinds out win in St. Louis to finish marathon trip on a high note

ST. LOUIS --Dead tired at the tail end of a seven-game road trip -- the longest in franchise history -- the Wild knew Sunday's matinee affair against the St. Louis Blues would be a grind.
Coming off a dominant 5-1 MInnesota win in the same building just eight days prior, the well-rested Blues were playing just their third game since and were wrapping up a seven-game homestand spanning two weeks.
Minnesota was playing its third game in four nights following a long day of travel in from the West Coast on Saturday. The fact it was an afternoon game only made the challenge more difficult.

And although it wasn't pretty at times, the Wild gutted out a 3-2 win over its divisional rival in St. Louis, wrapping up a 5-2-0 road trip.
"Today was a hard game. The end of the road trips are always tough. Not to make excuses but with the travel yesterday and the early game it was a challenge," said Wild forward Zach Parise. "I thought we played pretty smart for the most part and didn't get ourselves into trouble up the ice and blocked shots and scrambled and got ourselves the win."
Keeping it simple was critical.
The Blues -- not surprisingly -- pushed the early pace and drew an early power play. St. Louis put four shots on goal on its man advantage, but Devan Dubnyk made a couple of big saves.

The Wild nearly got out of the period unscathed, but a late goal by Oskar Sundqvist gave the Blues a 1-0 lead after one period.
Still, there was no panic on the Wild bench.
"We don't panic," said Wild defenseman Nick Seeler. "I think we almost come together more and start working to get that next one. We showed a lot this trip and looking forward to being home for a little bit."
Like a bolt of lightning, the Wild scored a pair in the opening two minutes of the second period.
First it was Parise, backhanding a waiting puck in the crease after it had caromed off the post. Just 25 seconds later, Joel Eriksson Ek shoveled a rebound past Blues goaltender Chad Johnson, giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead.
The Wild never trailed again.

The goal for Eriksson Ek was his first of the season and capped a terrific end of the trip for him. He struggled Tuesday in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks, so much so that he got a talking to from Wild coach Bruce Boudreau.
He responded by tallying an assist against the Ducks on Friday and by scoring a goal Sunday for his first two points of the campaign.
The message from Boudreau in San Jose?
"I think it was just to believe a little bit more in myself, be a little bit more patient with the puck and make some plays and not like overthink the situation," Eriksson Ek said. "Just play hockey and be yourself."
The young centerman has responded with perhaps his best three games of the season, all of which come at an important time, as Staal continues to work his way back to 100 percent after an illness had him essentially bedridden for two days during the trip.

"I was really happy for Eriksson Ek]. He works so hard and wants it so much. For him to score, whether it's an open net or whether it's from a foot out, it doesn't matter," Boudreau said. "I'm sure it was the same as when Nino scored. There's a lot of relief."
For a trip that looked awfully daunting when the schedule was released during the summer, the Wild was able to stockpile 10 out of a possible 14 points. While it's still too early to start drawing too many conclusions when it comes to the standings, Minnesota certainly helped itself with its performance on the trip.
The Wild begins a three-game homestand just two points behind the Nashville Predators for the top spot in the Central Division. The Predators' 26 points are the most in the NHL.
"It's still November, but the further you can get above .500 because everybody goes through something whether it's injuries, whether it's a downward part of the schedule that makes it tough for you, it happens," Boudreau said. "To get that little cushion is really important. It's something we never had last year because we started out very mediocre, so we grinded and grinded. And the year before, we had a good cushion when we had a bad month of March and it worked out for us. That's what you want to do."
**Related:**
[Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 3, Blues 2