Wild Vs. Blues: This Recap Has Been Reviewed...Again.

The Blues hit the ice tonight against the Minnesota Wild. The Wild coming off a loss at home to Anaheim last night, visited Scottrade. The Blues coming off of a 1-0 win over the Flyers on Thursday looked to keep on keeping on. Your starting goaltenders were Brian Elliott and Devin Dubnyk. Notes from the start: Zbynek Michalek would start his first game on defense as a Blue. Hitch would start Ryan Reaves with the pair of T.J. Oshie and David Backes. Patrik Berglund would also play tonight, but would spend the night on the fourth line.

First Period:

The first period was, well, it was a clusterfuck. At least at the beginning of it. Just a few minutes in the Blues thought they had taken a 1-0 lead. Not so much. Jay Bouwmeester would launch one, it deflected off of Berglund and hit the net. Not sure if the ref signaled that it was a good goal or, the NHL light guy had an itchy trigger finger, but they ruled it a goal at first. The play was reviewed and after the first review, the goal would stand. Just as they were about to drop the puck, the ref (Tim Peel mind you) was summoned once again to make a SECOND review. That review determined that the puck NEVER EVEN WENT IN THE NET. Are you kidding me? What were they looking at on the first review? Just the fact if it was a high stick or not? The repercussions would have been disastrous if  that puck had been dropped. It was just a really weird situation. If you're going to review something, take the time to get it right the first time. Moving forward in the first Mr. Dubnyk would make his presence felt:

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Wash, rinse, repeat as this would be a reoccurring theme the rest of the evening.

Second Period:

Things seemed to calm down for the Blues in the second period. And by that, they laid the hammer down. Totally dominating the second period. I would have been willing to bet the other end of the ice wouldn't even need to be cleaned...Ok, it wasn't that bad, but the Blues outshot the Wild 21-5 in this period. It even included a goal here from the captain:

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The Blues had just come off of the power play, but that didn't seem to matter. Again dominating most of the offensive zone time, it was nice to see the work pay off. Backes would get his 23rd of the season on the tip in. A few moments later the Wild would tie the game, or would they? A would be goal by Zach Parise was nullified after a review clearly showed a distinct kicking motion. Good thing that was only reviewed once. Not so good is the Wild would end up tying the game as Thomas Vanek wanted to make sure this one counted for sure:

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Alas, it did. At this point it would be 1-1. Didn't seem at this point it was time to panic.

Third Period:

Elliott and Dubnyk were having fantastic games. More so Dubnyk, as he was clearly facing a heavier work load. Jaden Schwartz had a shot on goal:

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I post this because he looked timid all night. Very pass happy. To include passes to absolutely no one. (See the 3 on 1 that the Blues wouldn't convert on because he passed to a sheet of ice.) In a game that featured the Blues recording 42 shots on goal...They needed to shoot more. I'm usually not one of those people saying shoot. However, Shoot. The. Puck. There were plenty of chances for the Blues to get MORE shots on net, but they would literally pass them up. The Wild would take advantage of their opportunities however:

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Literally seconds later, the Wild would score again:

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Give Tarasenko an assist for tripping over Z's skate and coughing up the puck. It was a tough goal to give up. The Blues would somewhat keep the pressure up, but in the end would fall to the Wild 3-1. Backes ended up getting the only tally for the shot filled night. Brian Elliott would give up 3 goals on 19 shots. Not good. (Not blaming him, just pointing that out.) Wonder if maybe he needs a break. The Wild would beat Elliott for the first time in 7 games. He had been 6-0-0 before that. On the flip side Dubnyk would beat the Blues for the first time 8 games. He stopped 41 of 42 for the win. Schwartz would block a shot in the game that sent him to the bench. He would come back in and finish the game though, so hopefully nothing came of that.

The Blues will be right back on the ice tomorrow afternoon as they take on the Stars in Dallas.