Saad nets winner in OT for Blues
Wild’s Fleury has 22 saves in loss
A banged-up Jordan Kyrou scored a hat trick and Brandon Saad tallied 2:05 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 5-4 victory against the host Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Jake Neighbours also scored for the Blues, who are 6-1 in their past seven games. Pavel Buchnevich had three assists and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.
Marco Rossi scored twice for the Wild. Marcus Johansson and Brock Faber also had goals for Minnesota, while Marc-Andre Fleury had 22 saves.
The win moved the Blues two points ahead of the Wild, who both trail Vegas in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“I know moving forward here over the last 11 games ... the odds don’t dictate that we can win this, get ourselves in a playoff position,” Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “But I wouldn’t bet (against) these guys. They just know how to win. There’s too much character in the dressing room.”
In the extra period, Saad worked a give-and-go with Kasperi Kapanen at the Minnesota blue line and broke free with the puck, beating Fleury between his pads with a wrister in front.
“I saw Kaapy coming with speed on the right side and give him the puck and I felt like I had a step on the guy and joined him. He made a great play and found a way in,” Saad, a former Pine-Richland student, said. “Cutting through the middle, I’m thinking a couple things but ultimately decided five-hole and it worked out.”
Other games
Tyson Foerster scored with 1:29 left and host Philadelphia snapped a seven-game losing streak to Boston with a win against the Bruins. Travis Konecny scored two goals and Foerster also had an assist.
Cal Clutterbuck scored twice, and host New York snapped a sixgame losing streak with a win against Winnipeg.
Artemi Panarin scored twice in regulation and added the decisive goal in the shootout, Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves and host New York beat Florida.
Thomas Chabot and Mathieu Joseph each scored and had an assist to help visiting Ottawa defeat New Jersey.
Filip Forsberg scored with 5:14 remaining in the third period and Juuse Saros made 23 saves to lead host Nashville to a win against Detroit.
Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist, Auston Matthews added his NHL-leading 58th goal into an empty net and host Toronto beat Edmonton.