Blues done, Wild get set to face Hawks

ST. PAUL, MINN.— Minnesota was killing an early penalty when Zach Parise snagged a loose puck in the neutral zone, raced away from St. Louis and triggered a huge roar from the home crowd with his highlight-reel goal off a bad-angle shot.

That was a bad sign for the Blues; Game 6 belonged to Parise and the Wild.

Parise scored twice, including that short-handed goal to get the Wild going in the first period on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Blues in Game 6 of the series on Sunday for a spot in the Western Conference semifinals.

“He’s an all-world player for a reason, because he works his butt off and he’s able to find opportunities like that,” Blues captain David Backes said, praising Parise after the third straight first-round ouster by the Blues.

Justin Fontaine also scored and Nino Niederreiter added an empty-net goal as the Wild set up a rematch with Chicago. The Blackhawks, who beat Nashville in six games to move on, knocked the Wild out in six games in the second round last year and in five games in the first round the year before that.

“I think we’re all ready for them,” Fontaine said.

Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves, giving him 67 over the last two games after the 6-1 defeat here that allowed the Blues to tie the series. The Wild outscored the Blues 8-2 after that. This was the 10th straight post-season loss for the Blues when facing elimination.

“It’s hard to win when you’re chasing games all the time,” coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Hitchcock pulled goalie Jake Allen for Brian Elliott after Fontaine scored with 8:41left in the second.