OT goal by Blues provides Wild end

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota had the upper hand on St. Louis for most of this series, controlling the play for periods at a time.

With goalie Jake Allen as their guide and coach Mike Yeo on their side, though, the Blues sure had the right formula for beating the Wild in the playoffs.

Magnus Paajarvi scored at the 9:42 mark in overtime, giving the Blues a 4-3 victory Saturday in Game 5 of their playoff series to eliminate the Wild in the first round following the best season in franchise history.

“They know us. We know them,” said Allen, who stopped 174 of the 182 shots he faced. “They got the best of us two years ago, and we came out on top this year. I’m sure we’re going to have many future series.”

The Blues advanced to play Nashville in the second round, with Game 1 against the Predators at home in St. Louis.

“I think we should be proud, but not satisfied,” Paajarvi said, adding, “We’ve got to play a better game.”

Allen made 34 saves for the Blues, who led 2-0 and 3-1 before a furious rally by the Wild to try to keep their season alive forced the extra frame. Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker scored to bring the Wild back from their second twogoal hole, a deficit that held past the midpoint of the third period until the two scores 4:21 apart that Allen said the Wild deserved for how hard they came at him.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored for the first time in the series, Alexander Steen followed him 3:15 later for a 2-0 lead midway through the first period and Paul Stastny got a goal in his first appearance of the playoffs, but the Blues still were fortunate to make it to overtime with all the difficult saves Allen had to make.

Despite a clear edge in shots on goal and faceoff draws and a dominant penalty kill unit throughout the series, the Wild were left wondering what more they had to do to get more pucks past Allen.

“They weren’t the better team,” coach Bruce Boudreau said, “but they won four games.”