Brayden Schenn sent Blues fans home happy Friday afternoon, scoring the winning goal against the Minnesota Wild and securing St. Louis a place in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Blues overcame the Wild 6-5 in overtime play after the Blues lost a 4-1 lead in the third period. Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron, and Brandon Saad had previously all found the back of the net in the middle frame.
Then Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman earned his second goal of the night to make it 4-2 in the third. Hartman first countered Ivan Barbashev’s first period goal with one of his own to put the Wild on the scoreboard.
Frederick Gaudreau brought Minnesota to within one goal, 4-3, off a one-timer pass. Pavel Buchnevich gave Blues fans hope with a wrist shot that hit paydirt during 4-on-4 action, making the score 5-3.
Minnesota's Marcus Foligno would answer with a power play at the 14-minute mark of the stanza. Kirill Kaprizov kept the momentum flowing for the Wild, knotting things up at 5-5 after the Blues’ Colton Parayko.
A wraparound from Buchnevich resulted in the puck finding its way to Schenn and then rubber met twine at the 56-second mark of OT.
The Blues’ quest for a second Stanley Cup will soon begin.
With the victory, St. Louis sweeps the season series against Minnesota as well, 3-0. The Blues led the season series against the Wild 2-0 after a 6-4 win January 1 and a 4-3 overtime win April 1.
The Blues are also now one point ahead of the Wild in the standings, 100-99, claiming second in the Western Conference Central Division for the moment.
This story isn’t over though as both teams are expected to meet again in the first round of the playoffs. The NHL playoffs are set to begin May 2 per the league website.
The Blues will finish the regular season against the Vegas Golden Knights at home at Enterprise Center April 29. Game time is set for 7 p.m. local time.
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