Jake Allen makes 51 saves for Blues in Game 1 win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jake Allen made 51 saves, and Joel Edmundson scored at 17:48 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.
"They threw a lot at me, but it's my job to stop the puck and give the boys a chance, and they scored the goal," Allen said. "Big win for us."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Friday at Xcel Energy Center.

[WATCH: All Blues vs. Wild highlights | RELATED: Complete St. Louis vs. Minnesota series coverage]
Zach Parise ended Allen's shutout when he scored with 22 seconds remaining in the third period.
"We gave ourselves a chance at least," Parise said. "We extended the game, and then you never know what can happen in overtime. But you've got to score more than one."
Allen's teammates and coaches were impressed with his performance.
"One word: amazing," said forward Vladimir Sobotka, who gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 6:21 of the second period. "A really good game."

Blues coach Mike Yeo said, "I thought he was phenomenal. Really not much to say. He was outstanding. He was challenged in so many situations and certainly stepped up."
‬Sobotka scored when he took a pass from Alexander Steen and let go a shot that deflected off Christian Folin and got past Dubnyk.
The Wild outshot the Blues 52-26.
"Win or lose, short memories are important," Parise said. "You still have to look at the good things that we did and look at where we can be better. Unfortunately right now, we're down 1-0 [in the series] and now we've got to even it up."

Goal of the game

Vladimir Tarasenko pushed toward the net with a shot that rebounded for Edmundson's put-away.
"That's up there for the best one," said Edmundson, who had three goals in 69 games during the regular season. "It beats the one last year in Dallas [in the playoffs]. I'm just happy the team could get the win tonight."

Save of the game

Allen robbed Charlie Coyle of a sure goal with a glove save at 16:38 of the second period to preserve a 1-0 lead.

Unsung performance of the game

Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester helped clear the crease from a near-tying goal at 10:38 of the third period. Bouwmeester had two blocked shots and one takeaway in 30:53 of ice time.

Highlight of the game

Mikael Granlund passed to Mikko Koivu, who perfectly fed Parise for the tying goal on a crisp tic-tac-toe play.

They said it

"I wouldn't say it wasn't good enough. Obviously the outcome wasn't there, but I think [if] we play like that every game, we're probably going to get the results we want, and that's the important thing. When a game like that doesn't finish how you want it to, [you've] just got to keep doing what you're doing. We stick to that game, we're going to be tough to beat." -- Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk
"[There were] a lot of shots from tough angles. I did a pretty decent job of keeping pucks away from their players. That's their forte; that's how they score, they crash the net, they have a lot of skilled guys that can make quick plays in front of the net, so we're going to expect the same and hopefully it goes well Friday." -- Blues goaltender Jake Allen
"Keep your head up. You've got to win four, and it's a long series. I thought we played a good game."-- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"We're not kidding ourselves. We know we have to be better. We found a way to win a hockey game, but we'll find a way to get better." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo

Need to know

Sobotka played in his first playoff game with the Blues since 2014 after spending the three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League. … The Wild recalled Steve Michalek from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Wednesday to be their third goalie.

What's next

Game 2 of Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN3, FS-N, FS-MW)