Wild’s perfect road game humbles Blues in Game 1

Jake Allen will start Game 2 for the St. Louis Blues. That’s good news. That means the goalie wasn’t the problem in their Game 1 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Now, they just have to work on the other things that have plagued their playoff disappointments: Struggling to generate offense with any consistency, and demonstrating a killer instinct.

The Wild took Game 1, 4-2, a score pumped up by a pair of empty net goals by Minnesota and a shorthander by the Blues in the last 1:13 of the game. They played a quintessential road game – limiting the Blues’ chances, and during the second period, completely snuffing out their offense.

The Blues were outshot 14-4 in the second period, and were dominated in puck possession (62.50 percent Corsi-For, in favor of the Wild). Matt Dumba’s power-play goal in the second built on Jason Zucker’s first-period goal for a 2-0 lead they’d never relinquish.

They outshot the home team, 29-21, giving Devan Dubnyk his first playoff win. They were more disciplined, as the Blues finished with 18 penalty minutes to four for the Wild – two of them on an ill-advised cross-checking minor on captain David Backes with 1:11 left.

"We didn't get the shots. They boxed out. We had a lot of zone time in the 1st period and they did a better job of clogging the middle. They gave us the top of the zone. We couldn’t get the pucks through,” said Hitchcock.

The coach said the Blues’ early struggles on offense made his players overthink plays, eschewing simplicity to make “two or three extra plays.”

Vladimir Tarasenko didn’t have a shot. Ditto linemate Jori Lehtera. Backes had one.

“We didn’t bring our ‘A’ game from the drop of the puck,” said Backes. “We’ll take blame where it’s due.”

As for the Wild, as Michael Russo writes, the win bucked several trends:

The Wild, 1-9 in the past two postseasons on the road, waltzed into an arena that has been unkind since 2007 and played a terrific hockey game. Typically in St. Louis, the Wild spend most the night being pasted against the boards and running around its own zone.

The Wild was 3-8-2 in its previous 13 games at St. Louis, having been outscored 43-24 in that span. It had won once in regulation in the previous 14 visits since Oct. 20, 2007.

But the Wild, winners of 12 of its final 13 road games in the regular season, played a solid defensive game. It blocked 12 shots in the first period and held the Blues to four second-period shots, including none in the final 8:32 of the period.

“I don’t think we expected to win four straight,” said Allen. “Saturday’s a new day.”