The St. Louis Blues knew they had to be better. A Game 3 defeat to the Minnesota Wild, in which Ken Hitchcock's group was heavily out-worked throughout the night, created a lot of anxiety among the St. Louis faithful. A loss on Wednesday, and yet another playoff disappointment would have felt inevitable.
Blues vs. Wild Game 4 final score: St. Louis evens series with decisive win
The Blues rebounded from a poor Game 3 with a complete effort.
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
This much is clear: the Blues aren’t going down without a fight.
St. Louis jumped out to a big first-period lead and kept its foot on the pedal, winning Game 4, 6-1, to even the opening round series. This marks the Wild’s worst playoff loss in franchise history.
Ryan Reaves got St. Louis on the board with a slapshot 5:34 into the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko padded the lead less than two minutes later with his fourth of the series, and David Backes lit the lamp himself with a wrister mid-way through the opening frame.
It may have been a season-saving 20 minutes for the Blues, and it was the first time they notched three goals in a playoff period since 2001.
Paul Stastny scored early in the second period to give St. Louis even more breathing room; Tarasenko scored again shortly thereafter, as did Patrik Berglund.
Jared Spurgeon notched Minnesota's lone goal of the night.
Wild backstop Devan Dubnyk looked unusually human, surrendering six goals on 17 shots. He was pulled after giving up his sixth of the game and was replaced by Darcy Kuemper. Dubnyk, a Vezina Trophy candidate and one of the best stories of the year, has not looked this bad since joining the Wild midseason.
In the other crease, Jake Allen had plenty of time to relax. The Blues gave up just 18 shots on goal, and he turned aside all but one.
These Central Division rivals will return to action on Friday in St. Louis at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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