|
 Stopping 36 shots, including all 19 he faced in the third period,
Dubnyk helped Minnesota take a 3-2 lead in its Western Conference
quarterfinal series with a 4-1 decision over the St. Louis Blues on
Friday night at sold-out Scottrade Center.
Pulled in a 6-1 loss 48 hours earlier after yielding all six goals
on just 17 shots, Dubnyk was back in the form that enabled him to
lift the Wild from a losing team at midseason to a squad within a
game of handing St. Louis its third straight first-round exit.
Blues goalie Jake Allen, who played brilliantly in the series' first
four games, gave up four goals on just 19 shots. The last came from
center Charlie Coyle at 14:50 of the third period, shortly after
Minnesota killed off a penalty as Dubnyk made three rapid-fire
saves.
The Wild can clinch the series Sunday in St. Paul.
St. Louis scored first when right winger Vladimir Tarasenko netted
his sixth goal of the series on the power play at 8:04 of the first
period. At that point, the Blues had a 7-0 advantage in shots on
goal.
But Minnesota made its first shot count, tying the score at 11:06 on
a 42-foot slapper from the left wing by defenseman Marco Scandella.
It hit off the glove of Allen and flopped side over side into the
net for Scandella's second goal of the series.
Outshot 12-3 in the first period, the Wild started driving play in
the second period and broke a tie with two goals in less than 90
seconds.
Left alone in the high slot, right winger Nino Niederreiter beat
Allen with a snapper off a pass from right winger Chris Stewart at
14:56.
Center Mikko Koivu upped the margin to two at 16:22 with a
power-play goal, occurring just 42 seconds after defenseman Kevin
Shattenkirk went off for interfering left winger Jason Zucker.
[to top of second column] |
NOTES: St. Louis C Jori Lehtera was sidelined for Game 5 after being
struck by a shot from D Jay Bouwmeester in the third period of
Wednesday night's 6-1 win. ... Minnesota scratched LW Sean
Bergenheim, a late February acquisition from Florida, and replaced
him with veteran LW Matt Cooke. ... Wild G Devan Dubnyk Friday was
named as one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, given to the
NHL's top goalie. Other finalists are Montreal's Carey Price,
considered the favorite, and Nashville's Pekka Rinne. ... Blues G
Jake Allen on Wednesday became the franchise's first rookie
netminder to win a road playoff game since Curtis Joseph beat
Toronto on April 8, 1990.
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