Wild fails to generate another multigoal comeback

ST. LOUIS – Ryan Hartman was denied on a 2-on-1 rush, Frederick Gaudreau had a look in tight stopped and a tip by Matt Dumba just missed the net.

After Matt Boldy scored early in the third period to get the ball rolling, Wild players had plenty of chances to complete another one of their trademark comebacks.

But the attempt fizzled in the final two minutes when the Blues converted twice to turn a nail-biter into a lopsided 5-2 finish on Sunday at Enterprise Center that tied the best-of-seven series at 2-2 before the first-round matchup returns to Minnesota.

"We all felt that we could because we did it so many times this year," Gaudreau said. "It was close. Unfortunately, it didn't go in. But it was close."

The Wild led the NHL in the regular season with a franchise-record nine multigoal rallies, but neither team has come from behind to win so far during this head-to-head battle — whichever team has scored first has always prevailed.

St. Louis led throughout Game 1 en route to a 4-0 shutout, and the Wild never trailed in Game 2 (6-2) and Game 3 (5-1) victories. This trend continued in Game 4, even though there was a tying goal for the first time, with Kirill Kaprizov tallying his team-leading fifth goal of the postseason after the Wild fell behind.

"It's so tight, right?" Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Everybody's blocking shots and sacrificing and doing all the right things when there's crucial times in the game. And obviously at the end when you have that lead, everybody seems to bear down and do the right things."

They scrambled their entire lineup, changing their forward lines and playing seven defensemen before Marco Scandella left because of a lower-body injury.

Injured defensemen Nick Leddy and Robert Bortuzzo remained out along with Torey Krug, who was hurt in Game 3. St. Louis, however, did get Hibbing native Scott Perunovich back; this was the former Minnesota Duluth standout's first game since he underwent wrist surgery in March. He chipped in an assist in 12 minutes, 2 seconds of action.

"He didn't get a lot of time, but I thought he did good," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Especially on the power play, I thought he did really well, moved the puck quick and handled the pressure and did some good things."

Berube juggled the forward groups after he felt the team wasn't generating enough at 5-on-5, and the shuffle ignited Jordan Kyrou, David Perron and captain Ryan O'Reilly, since they combined for the team's five goals and totaled eight points.

Kyrou, who opened the scoring 4:19 into the first period, has 10 goals and six assists in 15 games in his career against the Wild; that's his most goals and points against any opponent.

When Boldy lifted the Wild within a goal in the third period, the 21-year-old rookie became the second-youngest Wild player to register his first career playoff goal.

Dumba holds the record as the youngest (20 years, 265 days), after he also scored his first against the Blues back in Game 1 of that first-round series in 2015.

"It feels good," said Boldy, who had 15 goals in the regular season. "Would have been nice to get a second there in the third. Use it to your advantage, take it like you will, but hopefully get a little bit more confidence going into Game 5.