Strong second period helps Blues rally past Wild

[May 14, 2021]  Brayden Schenn, David Perron and Jordan Kyrou each scored twice as the St. Louis Blues rallied past the visiting Minnesota Wild 7-3 Thursday night.

The Blues (27-20-9, 63 points) closed their regular season by erasing a 3-0 first-period deficit to defeat the Wild for the second straight night.

Zach Sanford also scored for the Blues, Mike Hoffman earned three assists, and Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.

With nothing to play for, the Wild (35-16-5, 75 points) rested top forwards Karill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello along with key defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin.

Minnesota got goals from Nico Sturm, Ryan Suter and Marcus Foligno and 20 saves from Kaapo Kahkonen.

The Wild blitzed the Blues with two goals in the first 4:06 of the game.

Sturm struck first, whacking home a loose puck as the Wild outnumbered the Blues during a goal-mouth scramble. Then Suter scored from the blue line with a long shot through heavy traffic.

Foligno pushed the lead to 3-0 with 3:56 left in the first period. He used his body to knock a rebound down to his stick for a point-blank conversion.

The Blues responded by scoring four unanswered goals in the second period.

Sanford got the Blues on the board at the 5:16 mark with a nifty toe-drag move off the rush and a snap shot over Kahkonen's glove.

Minnesota Wild left wing Jordan Greenway (18) handles the puck during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Schenn cut the lead to 3-2 on the power play, scoring unchecked from the low slot off Ryan O'Reilly's feed from beside the net.

Perron tied the game with a snap shot from the right faceoff dot. Schenn struck again on the power play, this time converting Perron's rebound from directly in front of the net.

Perron made it 5-3 with a power-play blast from atop the right circle at 5:50 of the third period. Kyrou capped the scoring by scoring twice off the rush to make it 7-3.

The Wild closed their regular season by allowing three or more goals in each of their last 10 games.

--Field Level Media

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