|
 Halak made 22 saves, and Alexander Steen scored twice to lead the
St. Louis Blues to a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday
night.
Steen has 19 goals this season, one behind Washington's Alex
Ovechkin for the NHL lead.
Vladimir Sobotka also scored for the Blues, who are 9-1-1 in their
last 11 and 12-2-1 in the last 15. They have won six straight
against Minnesota by a combined score of 20-7.
The Wild were shut out for the first time this season and lost only
their second game in the last eight. Minnesota (15-6-4) is still off
to its best start with 34 points in its first 25 games.
Halak improved to 13-3-2 with his third successive win. He robbed
Zenon Konopka from close range late in the second period and earned
his second shutout of the season and 27th of his NHL career.
The Wild managed just 10 shots over the first two periods, but
tested Halak with 12 shots in the final 20 minutes.
"The first two periods, no action for me," Halak said. "I needed to
stay focused. It wasn't easy."
Minnesota appeared to take a 1-0 lead when Zach Parise deflected a
shot behind Halak just 30 seconds into the game. The on-ice
officials ruled he tipped the puck with a high stick. After a
lengthy review, the call stood.
Parise was certain that the goal should have counted.
"There is no way my stick was over the crossbar," he said. "I'm 5-10
and I don't think the stick was over my waist.
"That's just the wrong call."
Parise sustained a bruised left foot on a shot by Steen in the first
period. Parise played three shifts into the second period before
leaving the game.
"We'll find out more (Tuesday)," said Parise, who was walking with a
noticeable limp after the game.
Minnesota coach Mike Yeo agreed that the goal should have counted.
"To me, it was clear that it was a goal," he said. "It's fair to say
(after that) we came unraveled."
Halak was not sure if Parise's stick was high enough to disallow the
goal.
"It was one of those lucky bounces on our side," he said. "If it was
a little bit lower, it would have been a goal. Not giving up a goal
like that is huge. It would have been a big boost for them."
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The Blues needed just 50 seconds to parlay the
early break into a 1-0 lead. Sobotka converted off a shot by
Carlo Colaiacovo at 1:20. Sobotka also scored the first goal
1:39 into a 6-1 win over Dallas on Saturday.
"We talked about it, that we needed a fast start and we needed
to play hard," Sobotka said. "I think we did a good job of
that."
Steen broke out of four-game goal drought by pounding in the
rebound of Jay Bouwmeester's shot midway through the first
period to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. Steen added an empty-net
goal with 1:22 left.
"We did a good job of getting pucks through," Steen said. "I
thought it was a good game."
Both of the Blues' first-period goals came on rebounds of shots
from long range.
"I thought it was of one the best games we've played
five-on-five," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We did a lot
of good things."
Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom, who started in place of Josh
Harding, fell to 2-2-2. Harding is day-to-day with a groin
injury.
The Wild concluded a four-game road trip at 2-2.
St. Louis has a franchise record 37 points through its first 23
games.
NOTES: St. Louis D Kevin Shattenkirk missed the game because of
the flu. ... Minnesota LW Mike Rupp made his season debut after
missing 24 games due to offseason knee surgery. He finished with
two shots on goal in 5:07. ... This was the first of five
meetings between the new Central Division rivals. ... The Blues
lead the NHL with a plus-32 goal differential. ... St. Louis LW
Ryan Reaves underwent surgery Monday for a broken bone in his
right hand. Reaves, who leads the team with 69 hits, is expected
to miss at least six weeks. ... Minnesota has failed to score on
its last 11 power plays against the Blues.
[Associated
Press; STEVE OVERBEY]
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