The St. Louis Blues earned their 50th win of the season with a big 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild tonight. T.J. Oshie had the night of his life tonight, setting new career numbers against the Wild. Between setting a new career high with 21 goals on the season, and recording his first career hat-trick, Oshie was the leader tonight.
Minnesota had the early jump, peppering the net eight times in less than four minutes, but Ryan Miller stood strong and looked to be on his game early. His strong showing early, allowed the Blues to jump on top early.
It was T.J. Oshie, scoring his first goal of the game, firing a shot on goal while entering the zone, then circling behind the net, picking up the loose puck in front of the net and rifling it past Darcy Kuemper to put the Blues on top.
The Blues really took over the game at that point, playing deep in the Minnesota's zone for the majority of the period. Minnesota looked to have an opportunity late in the period with a four minute power play after Kevin Shattenkirk and Maxim Lapierre went after Cody McCormick after McCormick threw a late elbow towards the head of Shattenkirk. McCormick somehow wasn't penalized on the play and the Shattenkirk was tagged for four minutes worth of penalties.
T.J. Oshie, however, wasn't going to let Minnesota get back into the game, as he stripped the puck from Jared Spurgeon while shorthanded, walked into the zone and beat Kuemper five-hole for his second of the game. With this goal, Oshie set a new career high in goals, breaking the 20 goal plateau for the first time in his career.
The second started, and the Blues penalty kill was huge, not allowing a single shot on goal during the four minutes of shorthanded time. After the kill, the period was a lot of mucking and grinding. There wasn't a lot of scoring chances in the period, but a Blues powerplay gave the Blues a chance to extend their lead.
Mikael Granlund took an interference penalty and it was the puck control of the Blues, and the timely shot by Jaden Schwartz which extended the Blues lead. Brendan Morrow played a key role on the Schwartz goal, as he took away the eyes of the goalie in front, which allowed Schwartz to pick his spot and score his 23 goal of the season.
Derek Roy was penalized at the end of the period for slashing, another bizarre call by the officials, as Roy was the one slashed. Kyle Brodziak gave him a strong two handed slash on the hands and Roy turned back and gave him a shove.
It didn't matter though, as the Blues penalty kill was solid, yet again, and killed it off. The Blues eventually killed all six of the Wild's power plays.
The third period was back and forth, with both teams getting strong scoring chances. Just over seven minutes into the third, Oshie would complete the hat-trick, after tipping in a point shot from Jay Bouwmeester. This marked the first career hat-trick for Oshie in his NHL career and added to his career high in goals, now sitting at 21.
The Wild would continue their undisciplined play, as Jason Pomminville and Brodziak would both end up with penalties. Pomminville went off for tripping, while Brodziak took a slashing penalty. Brozdiak's slashing call was served by Nino Niederreiter, as Brodziak was also given a ten minute misconduct on the play.
The Blues would dominate control of the puck in the offensive zone on the 5-on-3 power play and it would eventually pay off. Just three second after Pomminville's penalty expired, Brendan Morrow would tally his 12th goal of the season. Morrow was planted in front of the net, and was getting absolutely abused by Marco Scandella. Morrow fought through the many crosschecks and slashes to pounce on a rebound and put the puck in the back in the net.
Zach Parise would eventually break Ryan Miller's bid for his first shutout with the Blues, halfway through the period. Parise received a perfect pass from Charlie Coyle and beat Roman Polak to the slot to score his 25th goal of the year.
That would eventually be the final goal, as the Blues take down the Wild by a final of 5-1.
Brendan Morrow was named the game's third star, after scoring a goal on the power play and completely screened Kuemper on the Schwartz goal.
Ryan Miller was named the second star of the game after stopping 27-of-28 shots and earning the clubs 50th win of the season.
It was no surprise that T.J. Oshie was named the game's first star, after scoring his first career hat-trick, and setting a new career high in goals.
Tonight was the first night that the Blues have scored a hat-trick in back-to-back games since back in December of 2000. Who did it then? The late Pavol Demitra and current Chicago Blackhawk, Michal Handzus.
Be sure to visit tomorrow as I start a new series on here, 'Where Are They Now?', as I take a look at some former Blues players and where their careers have taken them.