Winless streak ends in St. Louis

Greetings from the Scottrade Center.

Seems like I've covered a lot of games in St. Louis. And it seems it always goes well past regulation. Back in February I covered a Wild win that went nine rounds into the shootout. Tonight it took three periods, an OT and a shootout for the Wild to end its eight-game winless streak.

I have to admit I was a little surprised when I got down to the Wild dressing room. I know the team is out of the playoffs thanks to that streak. But I expected the team to be letting off a little more steam after finally getting a win. Instead I found some pretty measured responses. Which, I guess, is only right. Richards talked about the bittersweet feeling it left him with. Mikko Koivu talked about bringing home this intensity and giving the fans better hockey than they've gotten in recent weeks.

The response was very bittersweet. It will be very interesting to see how the Wild plays going forward over the rest of the season. Will this win allow them to loosen up and play well down the stretch?

Anyway, here are some thoughts from the game, in no particular order:

1. Jose Theodore was very good when it mattered Tuesday. Yes, the Blues' go-ahead goal early in the third, a bad-angle backhand by Chris Stewart, was a cheap on, but Theodore made some big saves, especially in the second period and early in the third, and he was very good in the shootout.

2. A very nice game by Bouchard, scoring the tying goal quickly after Stewart's goal, then getting a goal in the shootout.

3. Koivu played very well, too. He took some penalties that helped kill the Wild's first-period momentum, but he was very good late in the game and into overtime. And how about him scoring in the shootout on the forehand? "Well, it was there," he said. "It was good that it went in."

4. Clayton Stoner and his defensive partner Jared Spurgeon were both a plus-2. Stoner had his first career two-assist game.

5. Brent Burns didn't register a point, but he had a career-high eight shots on goal.

After the game coach Todd Richards was almost wistful. He remembered that nine-round shootout victory back in February, when the Wild was still in the playoff hunt. "It's a win. it's great for the guys in there, it's great for the team, the organization," he said. "We win. it's great. I want to win every game from here on out. But it still leaves an empty space. There is still an empty space in our stomachs as we move along."

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher met face-to-face with Merrimack star Stephane Da Costa and his agent Wade Arnott in Toronto Tuesday. Fletcher said he didn't know when Da Costa, who also met with other teams, would make a decision.

One funny note: The news coming out of morning skate was that Chuck Kobasew's sore leg got worse and he wouldn't play. That meant a late call-up for Casey Wellman. And I mean late. His flight was late, and he didn't get to the arena until 7:08. He had to warm up riding a stationary bike, then get dressed. He only played one first-period shift.

After the morning skate, Richards had some interesting things to say about the last few weeks. He said he has gone back and examined the Wild's winless streak, in his words "connecting the dots," trying find out when and why things went off the rails.''

Frankly, it sounds like his work didn't provide a definite answer. Here is what he said:

"You go back to Montreal, we played a good first period," he said. "We were down 2-0. They scored on the first shift (of the second period) and it went downhill fast from there. Toronto, we give up 10 scoring chances, we get 16. We lose 3-0, we have three or four breakaways and don't score. We played OK there. (Vs.) St. Louis, we weren't a good hockey team that game."

Richards said he goes back to Vancouver, where he felt his team played very well in a 4-2 loss. San Jose? "San Jose is a great team. Probably out-played us, but we were still right there."

But what about that overtime loss to Columbus in the first game back? "When I look at that, the way we came back and battled, tied the game and had chances in overtime? I think at that point everybody felt that, 'The season is on the line right here, we need two points.' And then the way we lost the game (in overtime), emotionally, the rollercoaster, it can be very deflating. But we came out in the Montreal game and, in the first period, it was fairly even."

What else?

Matt Cullen is still one point away from becoming the eighth Minnesota-born player with 500 career points.

The big news about the Blues was the T.J. Oshie situation. Oshie, who played high school hockey at Warroad, missed Tuesday's game and will miss the Blues game at Detroit Wednesday after missing practice Monday. "Not really a lot to say, he missed practice (Monday), it was an unexcused absence," Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. "We've decided he will miss the next two games."

Oshie, though, will not be fined.

"There is a standard, there is a responsibility to the players and he didn't meet that responsibility," Armstrong said.

Said Blues coach David Payne: "He missed practice. There are consequences for his action. Start with these two games, he won't be with the team, won't play. Doug and I will assess (the situation) going forward starting Thursday. ... This is not the type of actions that are required as a member of the St. Louis Blues."

Blues forward David Backes said the team will have to do more with Oshie out. "Not to get too in depth about it, but we need to be responsible professionals," he said. "When that doesn't happen there are consequences."

That's about it from here. Russo will get back at you tomorrow.