A look at what was being said and written about the Wild's 3-0 victory over the Blues from media in St. Louis and elsewhere:
Change is in order -- Jeff Gordon, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The status quo didn't cut it for the Blues in Game 3. After surviving the first period in the lively Xcel Energy Center, they capitulated in the second period.
They allowed two goals and nearly a few more.
The third period wasn't a whole lot better.
"They checked us really hard and they got us to crack," Hitchcock said.
Added Blues defenseman Barret Jackman: "We helped them beat us. We didn't stick to our game plan."
"That was a tough one," fellow defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We got what we deserved."
So tactical, personnel and attitude adjustments are in order. The Blues do not want to fall into a 3-1 series hole against a such a confident, skilled opponent.
"They got to show their skill, speed and ability," Blues captain David Backes said. "We were playing catch-up all night."
Read Gordon's full column here.
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'Wild performed surgery on the Blues' -- Jeremy Rutherford, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
They played the game at the Xcel Energy Center, but it might as well have been the Mayo Clinic about 80 miles away, because the Minnesota Wild performed surgery on the Blues on Monday night.
The Blues lost their ninth straight road playoff game, yes, but they lost more than that in their 3-0 defeat to Minnesota in Game 3 of their best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series, which the Wild now lead two games to one.
The Blues lost any momentum gained in Saturday's Game 2 victory at the very least, and maybe any semblance of a playoff team coming off a Central Division championship.
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Steve Ott's play 'was too much to stomach' -- Frozen Notes blog
(Ott's) tenure with the Dallas Stars was infuriating. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt when he joined the Blues, but tonight was too much to stomach. First, he played over 11 minutes. That's simply insane and wouldn't make sense even if the Blues were leading 11-0 after the first period. Ott should never see that much time on the ice. Second, he jumped the Wild in the final moments of the game completely away from the puck. That stuff is completely uncalled for and won't help you climb back in this series.
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'Was this a replay of Game 1?' -- St. Louis Game Time blog
The Blues would head into the third (period) down 2-0 yet again this series and there was no indication they would be coming back either.
The third was the same mess as the rest of the game; lazy passes, no shots from scoring areas, Wild players entering the zone for free. Once again the Parise line would get a glorious opportunity mid way through the period but Granlund blew a wide open net chance. One would think a close call like that would light a fire under a teams ass and say hey the hockey gods are giving us a shot. Well not the Blues, they kept up the same tactics and continued to get no pressure on Devan Dubnyk.
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'Blues sloppy with puck in Game 3 loss' -- NHL.com
The Blues thought if they could survive the first five to 10 minutes, with the Wild playing at home for the first time in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they would be able to settle into the game. It was scoreless after one period, and that's what St. Louis felt was a best-case scenario.
But instead of turning up the intensity, the Blues found themselves on their heels for much of the second period, and the Wild's top line of Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville took over with two goals in 2:05 to grab a 2-0 lead.
"They did a good job of using that long change in the second and staying on top of us," Shattenkirk said. "From our standpoint, everything was just too slow, too sloppy. Me especially, I was just very slow and not up to speed with my plays. That feeds through the whole team when something like that happens."
