Wild vs. Blues Game 1 final score: Minnesota defeats St. Louis, 4-2

The Minnesota Wild took Game 1 of their opening round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues, 4-2, as Minnesota staved off a late St. Louis onslaught to seal the victory. Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville scored for the Wild, who took home ice advantage away from their Central Division rival.

Zucker's goal came as a result of a strong individual effort in which he sped into St. Louis' zone, fired a shot on Jake Allen, corralled the rebound. and buried the puck on a wraparound. Dumba's mark came on a power play slap shot that worked its way through heavy traffic in front of the net. Granlund and Pominville each notched an empty netter.

Jaden Schwartz got St. Louis on the board by deflecting a Kevin Shattenkirk attempt 7:12 into the third, and Alex Steen scored with 58.7 seconds left in regulation, but it was too little too late.

Allen, who got the start between the pipes instead of veteran Brian Elliott, saved 25 of the 27 shots he faced. In Minnesota's net, Devan Dubnyk turned aside 19 of 21 shots.

Although the Blues applied a lot of pressure late in the game, they were flat out of the gate and were significantly outplayed for the majority of the night. St. Louis' top line, comprised of Jori Lehtera, Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko, failed to register a shot until Steen's mark in the contest's waning moments. Neither Lehtera nor Tarasenko forced Dubnyk to make a stop.