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Blues Vs. Wild Recap: Totally WILD Finish

Blues almost Blue'd it.

By Justin42
Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Blues Lineup:

The Blues forwards for tonight's game against the Wild: Jaden Schwartz/The return of Jori Lehtera/Vladimir Tarasenko...Robby Fabbri/Paul Stastny/Troy Brouwer...Patrik Berglund/David Backes/Dmitirij Jaskin...Scottie Upshall/Kyle Brodziak/Ryan Reaves.

Defensive Pairings: Jay Bouwmeester/Alex Pietrangelo...Kevin Shattenkirk/Carl Gunnarsson...Colton Parayko/Joel Edmundson. Goalie: Jake Allen

Game Highlights:

After what seemed like forever, the Blues were back in action tonight against the Wild in Minnesota. The Blues looked great in the first period. The few days off looked like it did the team some good. They would come out firing against Wild starter Devan Dubnyk. Jori Lehtera would start of the scoring tonight for the good guys. He would steal an errand pass and beat Dubnyk right through his legs for the 1-0 lead.

That would be Lehtera's eighth goal of the year, and it would go unassisted. The Blues weren't done there though. On a pass from Kyle Brodziak, Ryan Reaves would skate right in and score off of Dubnyk's glove.

The Wild would challenge the play, ruling that it was offside. However, it was ruled a good goal and Reaves' third goal would give the Blues a 2-0 lead. Brodziak(3) and Bouwmeester(14) would get the assists. Jake Allen wasn't very busy in the first, but he would be woken up late in the period after Brouwer would turn it over in front of his own net. Erik Haula would get a shot on net but Allen would deny him.

Fast forwarding to midway through the second now. The Blues, after being outplayed most of the second frame, would catch a break in the form of a big rebound chance off of Dubnyk. Berglund would be there to bury it for the 3-0 Blues lead.

Berglund scores his sixth goal of the year with David Backes(20) getting the lone assist. This would also see the end of Dubnyk's night, as he was pulled for Darcy Kuemper. Jake Allen would make some amazing saves tonight. Just a few moments after the Blues scored the Wild would have a great chance in front. Allen would deny Jason Pominville the opportunity of getting the Wild on the board with this spectacular glove save.

So with the Blues three goal lead, everything was going to end well right? Well, Ryan Suter had other ideas midway through the third.

Okay, there went the shutout. No big deal. The Blues won't do what they've done more times than fans want to remember and blow another lead right?

Here we go again. The Wild would manage to get the game to 3-2 in the third with plenty of time to go. (Considering the goal with .1 seconds left...that's way too much time). The Wild would pull Kuemper leaving an open net. The Blues, namely Robby Fabbri, would capitalize on the opportunity and bury one in the open net for the two goal Blues lead.

However, the game wasn't finished just yet. Jake Allen would keep the Wild from getting right back into it with this amazing stick save to preserve the two goal lead and the Blues 4-2 win.

Miscellaneous Fun

Numbers from tonight's game

Apparently Dubnyk was butthurt about the offsides/non-offsides call tonight

Here's the NHL explanation of said call:

And finally, with the birth of Ryan Reaves' child...he and the guys were having a little fun with it.

Three Stars:

Third Star: Jori Lehtera (1 goal. Reunited and it feels soooooo gooooood)

Second Star: Ryan Suter (1 goal. Meh)

First Star: Jake Allen (30 saves. Still not a snake.)

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