ST. LOUIS — The Minnesota Wild scored five goals in the second period and set their record with a 14-game point streak in an 8-5 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Wednesday.
The Wild are 11-0-3 during the run and moved within one point of the Dallas Stars for the Central Division lead.
“There was a lot to unpack in that [second] period,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “There was a lot of stuff obviously, but the bottom line is two points.
“We had to stay out of the penalty box. They scored two power-play goals in the first. We had to control that a bit. Once the second period started, we gathered ourselves. We stayed out of the box and played a lot better hockey. We played more in their end and we got rewarded for it.”
Ryan Hartman had two goals and an assist, Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and two assists, and Alex Goligoski and Ryan Reaves each had a goal and an assist for the Wild (39-21-8), who broke their record of 13 straight games with a point (12-0-1) from Dec. 2-29, 2016. Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves in winning his sixth straight start.
“Happy we got the win,” Fleury said. “That’s what the main reason we’re here for. It was not pretty but worked out pretty good.”
Pavel Buchnevich had a hat trick and Jakub Vrana scored twice for the Blues (29-33-5), who have lost two straight. Jordan Binnington allowed five goals on 24 shots before being given a match penalty at 12:25 of the second period. Thomas Greiss made eight saves in relief.
Binnington was given the match penalty after he left his crease and went after Hartman, who tripped over the Blues goalie’s leg while celebrating his first goal, which gave the Wild a 5-4 lead. Fleury then left his crease in an attempt to get at Binnington, but the officials did not let it happen.
Each goalie was given a two-minute minor for leaving the crease and Binnington the match penalty for roughing on Hartman.
Binning is scheduled to have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Thursday for roughing/unsportsmanlike conduct.
“We know the type of player he is. I actually like his game, to be honest,” Binnington said of Hartman. “I’ve played against him … for a while now. He plays the game hard and I respect it and it’s no problem. It’s kind of how it played out and it’s all good.”
The Wild scored three straight goals on Greiss, the first from Goligoski 1:33 after the scrum.
“I think we just kind of lost the net-front battle,” St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. “Had some chances to knock guys over or clear the front of the net a little bit. At the same time, when that was happening, they were getting breaks and bounces and guys with pucks going on their stick and having open nets. It’s a combination of a few things: a little bit of sloppy play and not defending as hard as we need to in the second period, and the game got away from us.”
Minnesota scored three times in 1:58 of the second period to take a 5-4 lead.
John Klingberg scored his first goal since being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on March 3 at 4:54 to make it 3-2. Oskar Sundqvist tied it 3-3 at 6:05, also his first goal with the Wild after being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on March 3, and Mason Shaw gave Minnesota a 4-3 lead at 6:52, scoring into an open side from the low slot.
Buchnevich tied it 4-4 at 11:24, St. Louis’ third power-play goal of the game, when he sent a puck to the crease and it caromed off Minnesota defenseman Jon Merrill, but Hartman restored the Wild’s lead at 5-4 at 12:25 with a power-play goal from the right face-off circle, ending Binnington’s night.
Goligoski scored on a breakaway during 4-on-4 play at 13:58 to push it to 6-4.
“All the right things were said,” Goligoski said. “I think we were frustrated after the first. It seemed like we weren’t really getting the bounces. I felt like we were playing OK, but making these mistakes and they were ending up in our net. It was refocus. We came in here saying all the right things and we were going to win this game. Just go to work, and we got some bounces in the second and kept on it.”
Reaves extended the lead to 7-4 at 2:24 of the third period from in close after Goligoski’s point shot pinballed to the left of Greiss.
Hartman made it 8-4 with a short-handed goal at 8:30, scoring short side from the left circle after a Greiss giveaway.
Buchnevich completed his second NHL hat trick at 14:14 for the 8-5 final.
He extended his point streak to 10 games when he gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:43 of the first period, poking a puck between Fleury’s pads near the crease.
Eriksson Ek tied it 1-1 at 12:10 with a power-play goal, poking in a loose puck.
Vrana made it 2-1 at 14:10, scoring the first of two power-play goals by the Blues in the first period.
Vrana’s second of the period, at 17:53, also on a power play, made it 3-1.
NOTES: Berube coached his 500th NHL game and became the sixth to coach 500 games and play 1,000 or more NHL games. He joined Randy Carlyle (924 games coached, 1,055 games played), Bob Pulford (822; 1,079), Craig MacTavish (661; 1,093), Red Kelly (742; 1,316) and Larry Robinson (501; 1,384). … Sundqvist played against the Blues for the first time since he was traded to the Red Wings on March 21, 2022. … Buchnevich has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) during his run, the longest point streak for the Blues this season, and tied Seattle Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn for the longest active streak in the NHL. … Vrana played after receiving 25 stiches from a cut below his nose during the morning skate. … Wild forward Samuel Walker had one shot in 12:56 in his first game since Dec. 29 after being recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on March 9. … Minnesota extended its road point streak to eight games (6-0-2).
