Wild falls to Blues in shootout

(By Kent Youngblood)

As is so often the case with hockey players, after the game Ryan Suter stood up and took responsibility.

It was only 24 hours earlier that Suter, the Wild's star defenseman, talked about the need to protect the puck. And yet it was his turnover here at Xcel Energy Center Saturday that led to David Backes' game-tying goal. After a scoreless overtime, Vladimir Tarasenko's shootout goal proved the winner in the Blues' 3-2 victory.

This is a tired team. After the game coach Mike Yeo – who said he was happier about the way his team played than he was disappointed in not getting two points – talked about it.

"We talked about this before the game," he said. "This has been a very tough stretch for us, travel-wise.' And so, certainly, we laid it out there. If we were tired today, if we didn't have our best effort…. There were plenty of opportunities for excuses. I'm pleased with the way that the guys didn't let excuses creep in.''

Yes, both teams were playing on the back end of back-to-backs. But the Wild has had a crazy stretch of schedule. They play at Philly, then go to Florida for two days. Then they come home for one game, then go back to Dallas to play on Thanksgiving.

Well, now they'll get their rest. The Wild owe the players one more CBA-mandated day off, and it will come Sunday. Monday will be, as Yeo called it, a very optional practice, one that most of the team's high-minutes player will be expected to miss. The Wild will have a full practice Tuesday, then play Montreal on Wednesday night. The team will have Anaheim at home Friday and end the homestand against the Islanders on the ninth.

--St. Louis has only been out-shot in two games this season. Tonight's 38 shots by the Wild were the second-most vs. the Blues.

--Zach Parise's second-period goal was the 250^th of his career and the 73^rd on the power play. He had three shots, three hits and one blocked shot tonight.

--Mikko Koivu's goal tonight was his first of the Month, his first since Oct. 30.

--Goaltender Niklas Backstrom was very good tonight. He made two big stops on shorthanded chances by the Blues late in the second period before Parise gave the Wild a 2-1 lead.