Zoo Book Sales
Related Articles
MINNEAPOLIS – Jordan Kyrou had two goals and two assists in a second five-goal period for St. Louis, and the Blues went through the coldest away game in NHL history to beat host Minnesota Wild 6 -4 during the Winter Classic Saturday night.
The official face-off temperature at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, was minus -5.7 degrees, the first of 33 outdoor games the league has played with a sub-zero temperature.
And the chill was an apt term to describe the home team’s play for much of the game, as Minnesota returned from a long layoff due to the league’s COVID-19 hiatus and other game postponements for the Wild.
David Perron put the Blues on the board in the first period. Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Barbashev and Torey Krug joined Kyrou in scoring in the second, and Robert Thomas started with two assists. Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues, who are 11-1-2 in their last 14 games against rival Wild.
Kirill Kaprizov had one goal and two assists, and Ryan Hartman had one goal and one assist for the Wild, who trailed 6-2 in the second intermission and fought off goaltender Cam Talbot after 22 saves in two periods in favor of Kaapo Kahkonen.
Rem Pitlick and Kevin Fiala also scored for the Wild, who came close to 6-4 on Fiala’s 6-on-5 goal with 5:38 left after Kahkonen was called out for the extra skater.
Saint-Louis coach Craig Berube – in his post-match speech to his club which the Blues posted on social media – gave Kyrou the match puck, but said he really wanted to give it away. one to everyone because it was such a “team effort”. “
Talbot, who recorded an away shutout for Edmonton at the Heritage Classic in 2016, wore a forest green sock cap over his mask to match the Minnesota jerseys. He didn’t have much help. The Wild missed their top two defenders, captain Jared Spurgeon (lower body injury) and Jonas Brodin (COVID-19 protocols), and allowed 14 shots on goal in each of the first two periods.
Due to virus outbreaks at other teams, the Wild have postponed four games in the past three weeks and haven’t played for 12 days. They have allowed 22 goals in their last four games.
The Blues were naturally the stronger team, having beaten Edmonton 4-2 Wednesday behind one goal and two assists from Kyrou upon returning from a four-game absence with an upper-body injury.
Perron rebounded in front of Talbot blocker with 5:31 left in the first period after Ryan O’Reilly’s shot deflected Wild defenseman Jon Merrill’s skate.
Kaprizov tied it 25 seconds later by knocking the puck off the skate of Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola, but Kyrou gave St. Louis the lead for a solid 27 seconds in the second period on another rebound goal that took hit Hartman. Kyrou’s four points are the highest in 13 editions of the Winter Classic, the premier outdoor event hosted by the NHL for television on New Years Day.
Pitlick added to the highlights with his shot from behind the net that slammed to the side of Binnington’s mask to reduce the lead to 5-2 at the end of the second period.
The result did not cool off a lively crowd who danced and sang in the aisles throughout the game, despite the temperatures. Even though the score was decidedly in the road team’s favor, very few sections of Target Field emptied as the game progressed.
The Blues, a popular team that won the Stanley Cup in 2019, were also well represented in the stands, as it looked like several fans, clad in blue and gold, had made the trip from St. Louis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
