ST. LOUIS — We now have a best-of-3 series, hockey fans. Win two and advance. Lose two and go home. Getting two goals each from Jordan Kyrou and David Perron, and strong goaltending with Jordan Binnington in the net, the Blues defeated Minnesota 5-2 on Sunday.
Ryan O’Reilly added a cherry on top with a power play goal with exactly one minute to play. This series is tied two games apiece, and headed to St. Paul, Minn., for Game 5 Tuesday.
It’s not true that Craig Berube pulled out names from a hat to come up with his lineup. It just seemed that way.
OK, totally understandable on defense where the Blues were missing Robert Bortuzzo, Torey Krug and Nick Leddy due to injury.
But it was strange to see on among the Blues’ top three lines at forward. Brayden Schenn-Ryan O’Reilly-David Perron were together for only the sixth time overall and the first time since March 12.
The Russians – Pavel Buchnevich-Ivan Barbashev-Vladimir Tarasenko were together for just the ninth time all season and the first time since Jan. 24 against Calgary.
And Brandon Saad-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou opened as a line for the sixth time all season and the first time since Jan. 24.
If you think there was something special about that Jan. 24 game in Calgary – there was. But only if you were a Calgary fan: the Flames won 7-1.
For the 16th time this season and the first time in the postseason, Berube went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Coming off wrist surgery, rookie D-man Scott Perunovich played in his first game for the Blues since Jan. 15, running one of the team’s power play units.
Another defenseman, Steven Santini, played in his first game for the Blues this season. He played in three regular-season games and two postseason games for St. Louis last season, but has played exclusively for the Springfield Thunderbirds in the AHL this season.
Aided by some extended power play time, the Blues outshot the Wild 18-5 in the opening period Sunday, but had only a 1-1 tie to show for it.
Jordan Kryou, with a rebound of his own shot, gave the Blues their first lead in the series since Game 1 – up 1-0 at the 4:19 mark. The Blues got a four-minute power play when Kevin Fiala was called for high-sticking Niko Mikkola.
Dating back to the final Blues-Wild matchup of the regular season, it was the third time Fiala has cut a Blue with a high-stick in five games between the teams. Nick Leddy needed 10 stitches from a Fiala high stick below the eye on April 16, a 6-5 Blues overtime win. And Ryan O’Reilly needed stitches above the eye from a Fiala high stick in Game 1, a 4-0 Blues victory.
The Blues sent seven shots on goal over the four-minute power play, but Fleury – looking sharp – stopped all seven. The Blues also got a two-minute power play late in the first but couldn’t convert.
But in between those two power plays, Kirill Kaprizov found open ice in the near left circle and beat Jordon Binnington, making his first start of this postseason, and tying the game at 1-1.
After entering the game with only three of their top six defensemen, for the third game in a row they didn’t make it out of the first period without losing another D-man. This time it was Marco Scandella gone with a lower-body injury.
So maybe it was a good thing, the Blues dressed seven defensemen Sunday afternoon.
The start of the second period looked like vintage playoff hockey. Tight-checking, big hits, not a lot of open ice. And then David Perron came racing down the ice, took a pass from O’Reilly, and flipped a backhand that got behind Fleury and was rolling toward the goal line.
Marcus Foligno skated to the rescue, trying to clear the puck. But it bounced off Fleury’s back and the off Foligno’s skate. Goal Perron. The Blues were up 2-1 with 9 ½ minutes left in the second. The hockey gods smiled upon the Blues.
The Enterprise crowd erupted, and then really erupted, when Kyrou scored his second goal of the night 54 seconds later making it a 3-1 Blues lead.
Kyrou took a pass from O’Reilly near the right circle, passed to himself between the legs and lifted a backhand past Fleury.
But the Wild made things interesting early in the third period. Binnington left a rebound, and in swooped Matt Boldy for the rebound and a Wild goal to make it a 3-2 game with 17:21 left in the game.
