Parise leads Wild past Blues, into second round

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[April 27, 2015]  SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- In the summer of 2012, when the Minnesota Wild paid left winger Zach Parise nearly $100 million to come home, this is the kind of day, and result, they had in mind.

On Sunday, Parise had a pair of goals as his team clinched a playoff series on home ice for the first time in franchise history, beating the St. Louis Blues 4-1, and winning their Western Conference playoff series 4-2.

Right wingers Justin Fontaine and Nino Niederreiter also scored for Minnesota and goalie Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves as the Wild advanced to a meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks. It will be the third consecutive season with a Minnesota-Chicago playoff series.

"It's a great accomplishment," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "I think winning at home, it's the first time we've ever done that, that was something that was very important to our group, to win in front of our fans. Obviously you don't want to go back and play that team in a Game 7 in their building. We knew that. But again, it meant a lot to us to try to win this game in front of our fans. They deserved that tonight."
 


Center T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues, who failed to advance past the first round for the third consecutive season. Jake Allen started the game in goal for the Blues, stopping 11 of the 13 shots he faced. He was lifted in favor of Brian Elliot after Fontaine scored in the second to make it 2-0 for Minnesota. Elliott finished with six saves.

"It's terrible," said Allen, after the Blues won the Central Division in the regular season, but managed just two playoff victories. "To get a chance to win the Stanley Cup doesn't happen too often in your career. Especially with a team like this. This isn't acceptable for any of us, I don't think. This isn't going to sit well with any of us for a while and it's going to be tough to watch the rest of the playoffs knowing we're not in it."

Minnesota led 2-1 early in the third period and was weathering a Blues momentum storm when Parise capped off a rush to the net, knocking in the rebound of a shot by right winger Jason Pominville that Elliott stopped. Niederreiter scored an empty-net goal for the final margin.

With 22 points in 24 playoff games over three seasons with the Wild, Parise is now tied atop the franchise's playoff scoring leaders list alongside Marian Gaborik.

"He's tenacious," said Blues captain David Backes, who played alongside Parise for Team USA in the last Olympics. "He's an all-world player for a reason, because he works his butt off and he's able to find opportunities like that. He did a good job. Made us pay twice tonight."

The Wild, who have had the best power play in the playoffs thus far, failed to score on an early man-advantage, but capitalized when one of their own was in the penalty box.


Minnesota left winger Matt Cooke broke up a Blues pass and fed the puck to Parise, who streaked down the left side of the ice, surviving a check from St. Louis defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk once he was over the blue line. Parise took the puck to the goal line in the left corner and flipped a shot on net. The puck found a small gap between Allen's right arm and the goalpost, giving the Wild an early lead.

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"That's special at home," Parise said. "Every team is better when they get the lead. To get the first one, it gives our crowd something to get into it, get some excitement in the building. That goes a long way. You never expect to get a shorty, but I saw an opportunity to get around Shattenkirk. I got good body position on him and was able to get a shot."

Fontaine doubled the Minnesota lead on a harmless-looking shot from 20 feet out that fooled Allen between the pads midway through the second period. It was Fontaine's first goal of the playoffs, and was enough to prompt Blues coach Ken Hitchcock to pull Allen and put Elliott in goal for the first time this postseason.

"He's going to figure it out," said Hitchcock, defending the decision to start Allen in all six games. "He's going to be a good goalie."

With his contract up at the end of this season and the Blues' repeated early exits from the playoffs, it's widely thought that Hitchcock faces an uncertain future in St. Louis.

The Blues finally got on the board with 3.4 seconds left in the second period, when Oshie capped off a scramble in front of Dubnyk, slipping the puck between the post and the goalie's left skate. It was the first goal of the playoffs for Oshie, who had drawn criticism for his lack of offense in the series' first five games.
 


"You got to enjoy it, it's a great feeling there on the ice with the fans," said Wild captain Mikko Koivu, after the team gave their sellout crowd a post-game stick salute. "We never had that opportunity to do it at home in front of our home fans, so we enjoyed that. But at the end, we know there's a couple days and then we go at it again. We're going to enjoy tonight and then start preparing."

NOTES: The Wild signed C Christoph Bertschy to a three-year entry-level contract that will start in the fall. Currently playing with SC Bern in the Swiss League, Bertschy was picked by the Wild in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. ... Blues C Jori Lehtera missed Game 5 with a lower-body injury. He was injured by a shot from St. Louis D Jay Bouwmeester in the third period of Game 4, which was won by the Blues 6-1. Lehtera skated in the team's optional practice on Saturday before they flew to Minnesota and was back in the lineup for Game 6, replacing C Marcel Goc.

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