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The Minnesota Wild took care of business by winning Game 1 in St. Louis. They will at least return home with the home-ice advantage after losing Game 2.
Minnesota lost, 4-1, in Game 2 against the Blues, who were led by three goals from forward Vladimir Tarasenko.
Marco Scandella scored in the third period to make Saturday a one-goal game, but St. Louis finished off the game with two goals, including an empty-netter. Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves.
The Blues tried to play a physical game in front of their home crowd, getting back to their strengths with big forwards like David Backes, Patrik Berglund, Jori Lehtera and physical players in Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves.
Minnesota withstood the pesky play but Tarasenko found space.
The Wild return to where they were so good in the playoffs last season -- the Xcel Energy Center -- and can secure the series by winning at home.
THREE STARS
1. Tarasenko, F, Blues: Is there any more to say? The most dangerous goal scorer for St. Louis was held in check in Game 1, but the talented Russian single-handedly changed Game 2. While the big Blues were trying to play a physical game, it was Tarasenko's skills that were the difference.
Tarasenko opened the scoring by tipping home a point shot while attacking the net. His second goal was a shot from a wide angle past Dubnyk and he finished off the hat trick with an empty-netter late. It was the first-ever hat trick against the Wild in the playoffs and the first for St. Louis since 2004. He tied a team-high with five shots on goal and had two hits, as well.
2. Jake Allen, G, Blues: Allen had a rough start in Game 1 as St. Louis went with the inexperienced Allen, who had one NHL playoff appearance in his career. Allen showed in Game 2 why he was the choice over Brian Elliott. Allen came up with several big saves, including after a few awkward bounces off the boards. He stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
He even got a bit lucky, perhaps. Wild forward Charlie Coyle aimed to tie the game midway through the second period and his shot bounced off the crossbar, hit Allen in the back and deflected toward the goal line. Backes swept the puck away at the last second to save Allen, who had flopped backward and was in the process of swinging his glove hand around in hopes to make the save.
3. Alexander Steen, F, Blues: Steen is a talented player who had spent much of the year playing on a big St. Louis line with Backes and T.J. Oshie. The trip has been split up and Steen found himself on a line which looks to make more plays with speed and skill with Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera. Steen scored in Game 1. He had the two primary assists on Tarasenko's first two goals on Saturday. The Steen, Lehtera, Tarasenko line will be one Minnesota will have to find a way to neutralize in Game 3.
Seen: There were a couple of surprise lineup changes for the Wild after winning Game 1. Forward Matt Cooke, who wasn't ready for Game 1 according to Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo, was back in the lineup. He slotted in at left wing on the fourth line, taking the place of Sean Bergenheim.
Justin Fontaine has been a lineup fixture for the second half of the season. But he came down with an illness before the game and had to be scratched. Jordan Schroeder started in Fontaine's place as the fourth-line right wing. Schroeder nearly had a chance to tie the game himself late when he missed a wide-open shot.
Yeo said he chose Cooke for Game 2 after losing Fontaine because of Fontaine's penalty-killing role. Schroeder earned the time because he's a right-handed shot. With Schroeder in, Yeo went for Cooke's penalty killing in the choice over Bergenheim.
Said: "You lose a game and it's frustrating, it's disappointing. But it's no different than what we said last time. I thought we did a pretty good job. We knew we were going to face their best game tonight. They were able to get a lead on us, but I thought that the way our guys stayed with it, the way that we battled, we gave ourselves a chance to tie it up. We didn't. So we'll take what we need to take out of this one in terms of what we did well and what we need to do better, and we'll find a way to get better. That's one thing I'm confident with our group, that we'll continue to push the pace, we'll continue to get faster and stronger in our game. As we do that, then hopefully the results will follow." -- Yeo
Next: The series moves to Minnesota with Game 3 on Monday at the Xcel Energy Center. Game 3 will be at 7 p.m. Central time, seen locally on FOX Sports North.
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