Brayden Schenn scored the overtime winner and had two assists as the St. Louis Blues edged the Minnesota Wild 6-5 Saturday to clinch a playoff berth.
Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists for the Blues (45-20-10, 100 points), who passed the Wild for second place in the Central Division.
Ivan Barbashev, Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron and Brandon Saad also scored for the Blues. Colton Parayko had two assists and Ville Husso made 31 saves.
The Blues scored at least four goals for their 11th straight game. They are 10-0-1 during that span with eight consecutive victories.
Ryan Hartman had two goals and an assist for the Wild (46-21-7, 99 points), who erased a 4-1 third-period deficit to force overtime and earn a point. Frederick Gaudreau and Kirill Kaprizov also scored, and Cam Talbot made 24 saves.
Minnesota is winless (0-8-2) in its last 10 games against the Blues.
Blues defenseman Nick Leddy left the game after taking a high stick in the face and Wild forward Tyson Yost left the game with a lower-body injury,
The Blues led 1-0 after one period. Barbashev scored by following up Nathan Walker’s attack.
Hartman tied the game 1:19 into the second period after corralling a bouncing puck in front of the net.
But Tarasenko answered with his 250th career goal off Parayko’s cross-crease pass. The Blues made it 3-1 when Perron converted Schenn’s diagonal pass.
Saad made it 4-1 on a clean break-in off Ryan O’Reilly’s lead pass.
The Wild killed off a 5-on-3 power play to close the second period and open the third before rallying.
Hartman’s second goal came on a pass tipped in by Blues defenseman Marco Scandella. Gaudreau scored 92 seconds later to pull the Wild within one goal.
Buchnevich responded with a 4-on-4 goal, but Foligno’s power-play goal cut the lead to 5-4 with 6 minutes left.
Mats Zuccarello’s steal set up Kaprizov’s game-tying goal 58 seconds later. That was Kaprizov’s 43rd goal, a single-season record for the Wild.
But Schenn decided the game in overtime by scoring from the slot off Buchnevich’s pass from behind the net.
–Field Level Media