Wild bounces back at home with 6-3 rout over Blues

The company line from Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, Mike Yeo and many others after the Wild pounded the St. Louis Blues 6-3 was the Wild is not in a position where it can look ahead at potential first-round playoff matchups.

The Wild first has to make the playoffs, and with 10 games left, there are many more points needed.

"It's just about picking up points and getting into the dance," Vanek said after the Wild gained a five-point playoff cushion.

But if the Wild ultimately does meet the Blues — and the two Central Division rivals would clash if the season ended today — the Wild should have confidence. Against a rugged team that had Minnesota's number in recent years, the Wild beat the Blues for a second time in seven days on Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.

"That one that we won in St. Louis, we might have stolen that one," Parise said, smiling, at the understatement of Devan Dubnyk's thievery. "Tonight was just an all-around better game. We controlled the puck a lot better and spent a lot more time in their zone."

The Wild, playing average hockey at home recently, opened the floodgates by scoring five even-strength goals and chasing Blues goalie Brian Elliott 24 minutes, 5 seconds into the game when Parise and Jonas Brodin scored 26 seconds apart to turn a 2-0 lead into a 4-0 lead.

The Wild took its foot off the gas, Vladimir Tarasenko scored a goal and assisted on another 1:39 apart, and Yeo called time out to calm his troops. Then, Justin Fontaine responded by restoring the Wild's three-goal lead to, as Fontaine said, "take a little wind out of their sails."

The Wild's third line of Vanek, Charlie Coyle and Fontaine created three goals, with Fontaine registering his second career three-point game, Coyle assisting on two goals and Vanek scoring his 18th goal to extend his point streak to a team-season-best seven games.

Parise's goal was his team-leading 28th, Chris Stewart opened the scoring with a breakaway goal against his former team, Mikko Koivu scored a power-play goal, and Brodin's goal ultimately became his first career winner. Brodin and Ryan Suter, who had two assists, was each plus-3, and Dubnyk made 26 saves in his 30th consecutive start with the Wild and 31st in a row overall.

"Some of the goals were once-in-a-lifetime goals, but still, they scored six goals," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, referring to Vanek's goal off his arm, Koivu's goal off defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's stick and Brodin's fluttering winner.

The Wild responded well to Thursday's home loss against Washington and now takes its franchise-record eight-game road winning streak into back-to-back contests at Toronto and the New York Islanders. So Saturday's bounce-back effort was needed.

"Every single point is so important to us right now," Koivu said. "Every night is a challenge. One of the very best teams in the league, when you're facing them you've got to be ready for every shift. I thought overall, we did pretty good."

The Wild struck first on Stewart's third goal in 10 games with the Wild. It was hard to decide what was most impressive from the gigantic power forward.

First, he poke-checked Jaden Schwartz's pass into open ice, then turned on the jets to catch up to an all-out breakaway, then he made a sly move to open up Elliott's legs for a 1-0 lead.

"Even though I am a big body, a power forward, I really pride myself on my ability to move my feet," Stewart said. "When I'm doing that, I'm at my best."

Less than five minutes later, Fontaine craftily kept the puck from leaving the offensive zone by a few centimeters, turned and whistled a shot that deflected off former Wild defenseman Zbynek Michalek's stick, then Vanek's arm for a goal.

"Goofy deflection goals," Hitchcock said.

Vanek has saved his best hockey for the recent stretch.

"This is where competitors find a way to elevate their game," Yeo said. "You don't score goals against a team like St. Louis unless you have an unreal work ethic, unless your detail is spot on. They don't give you anything, so you're going to have to earn it."