ST. LOUIS – Back on the road, the Wild returned to their roots. They eked out a textbook 4-2 win over the Blues on Tuesday night at Enterprise Center to begin a three-game trip by resetting from a loss over the weekend to a different Central Division rival in the Stars.
The Wild’s eight away wins are tied for first in the NHL, and their 18 points are tops. Overall, the Wild (12-3-3) are tied for second in the league with 27 points after winning four of their past six games. Jonas Brodin scored the tiebreaker with 6 minutes, 16 seconds to go in the third period, the defenseman winding up from outside the left faceoff circle after sitting out the previous two games injured.
Kirill Kaprizov finished off a two-goal effort into an empty net with 1:23 remaining. In net, goaltender Filip Gustavsson picked up 22 saves to improve to 9-3-2 and, unlike his last appearance in St. Louis when he scored the first goalie goal in Wild history on Oct.
15 to polish off a 4-1 victory, the netminder made an early statement by withstanding an upbeat start by the Blues. He rattled off five saves before the Wild even tested St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, but in typical Wild fashion on the road, they scored first for a league-leading 12th time.
They are 10-1-2 when that happens, their 10 victories tied with the Rangers for the most in that scenario. The new line of Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi and Ryan Hartman capped off a terrific shift with a goal, a five-hole dribbler by Hartman at 12:24.