Wild return to the road, roll past Blues

ST. LOUIS – Back on the road, the Minnesota Wild returned to their roots.

They eked out a textbook 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night at Enterprise Center to begin a three-game trip by resetting from a loss over the weekend to a different Central Division rival in the Dallas Stars.

The Wild’s eight away wins are tied for first in the NHL, and their 18 points are tops. Overall, the Wild (12-3-3) are tied for second in the league with 27 points after winning four of their past six games.

Jonas Brodin scored the tiebreaker with 6 minutes, 16 seconds to go in the third period, the defenseman winding up from outside the left faceoff circle after sitting out the previous two games injured.

Kirill Kaprizov finished off a two-goal effort into an empty net with 1:23 remaining.

In net, goaltender Filip Gustavsson picked up 22 saves to improve to 9-3-2 and, unlike his last appearance in St. Louis when he scored the first goalie goal in Wild history on Oct. 15 to polish off a 4-1 victory, the netminder made an early statement by withstanding an upbeat start by the Blues.

He rattled off five saves before the Wild even tested St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, but in typical Wild fashion on the road, they scored first for a league-leading 12th time. They are 10-1-2 when that happens, their 10 victories tied with the Rangers for the most in that scenario.

The new line of Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi and Ryan Hartman capped off a terrific shift with a goal, a five-hole dribbler by Hartman at 12:24 that Rossi set up by catching Hartman in stride.

Actually, the entire Wild lineup was different after their rally against Dallas at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday fizzled 2-1.

Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek returned after being hurt during last week’s homestand, while Ben Jones drew in to make his Wild debut wearing No. 39 after getting called up from the minors.

Just 4:48 into the second period, St. Louis found the equalizer off the rush on a top-shelf shot by Hibbing’s Scott Perunovich that sailed by Gustavsson’s glove.

Gustavsson was solid the rest of the period, blocking a one-timer by the Blues’ Jordan Kyrou in tight — a save similar to the one he had vs. Kyrou in the teams’ previous meeting.

Then in the third, the Wild were opportunistic on the go-ahead goal.

Just 19 seconds after their power play expired but with St. Louis penalty killers still on the ice, Kaprizov tipped in a Jake Middleton shot while his back was to the net.

As for the Wild’s retooled power play, which saw Declan Chisholm take over for Brock Faber on the point of the No. 1 unit, they officially blanked on their two opportunities to continue their funk; the Wild have scored just three times in their past 29 chances since Oct. 29.

St. Louis’ power play, however, sent both teams back to Square 1.

The Blues caught back up to the Wild while Boldy was in the penalty box for a high stick, Jake Neighbours deflecting in a centering feed at 10:37 after the Wild failed to clear the zone.

That stopped a 17 for 17 run by the Wild penalty kill, which had denied St. Louis during its earlier power play that spanned the first and second periods.

But as has been the case, especially on the road, the Wild were unfazed.

Brodin, who sat out the Wild’s two-game homestand because of an upper-body injury, took a handoff from captain Jared Spurgeon and skated deeper into Blues territory before unleashing his second goal of the season behind Binnington, who totaled 24 saves.

Johansson also assisted on the game-winner, the third point for his line with Hartman and Rossi.

This put the Wild in the same position they were in during their last trip to St. Louis, ahead late, but with only a one-goal cushion Gustavsson didn’t attempt another goalie goal into an empty net.

Instead, Kaprizov did the honors, sinking a 90-footer for his league-leading fifth empty-netter.

His 13 goals lead the Wild, and the winger is second in NHL scoring with 33 points; Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon has 34.

Kaprizov is up to 12 points during a six-game point streak, and he has at least a point in 10 straight road games; that ties Eriksson Ek (2022-23) for the longest road point streak in team history.

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