Wild defeat Blues for fourth straight win

ST. PAUL, Minn.-- The Minnesota Wild got their fourth straight win with a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.
Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for the Wild (15-8-4). He is 6-0-2 in his past eight games and leads the NHL with four shutouts, a .946 save percentage and 1.66 goals-against average.
"It's awesome. That's important to just get that good feeling going," Dubnyk said. "When you can approach every game and feel good about what the outcome's going to be and how we're going to play, that's how you get on these streaks.
"These streaks are important when the schedule gets tough at the end of the year."

WATCH: All Blues vs. Wild highlights
Jake Allen made 22 saves for St. Louis (16-9-4).
"I think we have to respect the team that they have," Allen said. "You have to respect the group of forwards they have there. They have three great lines, they're speedy and they know how to play and get opportunities."
Mikael Granlund scored an empty-net goal at 19:01 of the third period to give the Wild a 3-1 lead. Eric Staal got an assist for his 800th NHL point.

"It's a nice feeling," Staal said of reaching the milestone. "Honestly, I'm hoping for a lot more as my career moves on. But nonetheless, very grateful and honored to one, make the NHL and to play as long as I have and to put up that kind of number is special.
"There is no way to do it on your own. I've played with some great offensive guys that made me look good on a lot of nights. But like I said, hopefully, there is a lot more ahead because I'd like a bigger number than that."
Matt Dumba gave the Wild a 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the second period. Zach Parise got an assist for his first point in the past seven games.
Nino Niederreiter made it 2-0 at 7:49 of the second.
Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko ended Dubnyk's shutout at 15:48 to pull the Blues within 2-1. Tarasenko has seven goals and 12 points in his past nine games.
Minnesota is 9-3-0 at home. The Wild lead the NHL in team save percentage (.934) and goals-against average (2.04).
"I think that's 9 out of 10 games that we've gotten points in," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I thought that was our best third period of the year… I hope they're starting to believe they're a good team."

Goal of the game

Dumba scored on a wrist shot and has a goal in each of the past two games.
"I'm just trying to shoot the puck and stay within my game, and just play hard," Dumba said. "I guess confidence comes with scoring the goals, but I think I'm just sticking with the process and what I'm trying to do, what I'm trying to do all year."

Save of the game

Allen robbed Jason Pominville in close to keep the score 2-0 at 9:55 of the second period.

Unsung performance of the game

Allen made three big saves on Wild forward Jason Zucker, including stopping him on a breakaway at 5:34 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Blues forward Robby Fabbri passed to a wide-open Tarasenko who scored his 14th goal of the season.

They said it

"I think [Allen] was tremendous in net. He gave us a chance to get points here tonight and we didn't, so we'll have to do it in Nashville." -- Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo
"That happens on the road. Anything tied after the first period you're in good shape. There was a little bit of shock getting scored on the first shift. Still, the game's out there. Our push back wasn't strong enough today." -- Blues coach Ken Hitchcock
"I don't know what else to say about him. He's been really good. And he does it in a very calm way. It's not like he's flopping all over the place. His positioning is great. He keeps us in when we're not good and he's preventing us from losing when we are good." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on goaltender Devan Dubnyk

Need to know

Staal has six points (five assists) in his past eight games. … Niederreiter has nine points in the past 10 games and is second on the Wild in goals with eight this season. … It was Blues assistant Mike Yeo's first game in Minnesota since being fired by the Wild on Feb. 13 last season.

What's next

Wild: Host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-FL, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-TN, NHL.TV)