Oshie's Hat Trick Lifts Blues Over Wild 5-1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — T.J. Oshie scored three goals for his first NHL hat trick and Ryan Miller made 27 saves to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 5-1 rout over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
St. Louis has won three in a row overall and nine straight against the Wild. The Blues lead the NHL with 107 points.
Minnesota has lost six of eight.
Jaden Schwartz and Brenden Morrow also scored for St. Louis, which has points in its last 10 home games. Miller improved to 9-2-1 since being acquired from Buffalo on Feb. 28.
Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who had earned points in their previous three road games. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves but fell to 12-8-4. He has won just twice in his last nine starts.
Oshie, who has a career-high 21 goals, scored twice in the first period — including a short-handed goal with 26 seconds left that made it 2-0.
He converted from the slot at 4:43 and then beat Kuemper on a breakaway for the Blues' fifth short-handed goal of the season.
Oshie tipped in a shot from Jay Bouwmeester at 7:18 of the third period to complete the hat trick.
The Blues posted a hat trick for the second straight game as Oshie matched David Backes' three-goal feat in St. Louis' 5-3 win at Toronto on Tuesday.
Schwartz netted his 23rd goal of the season on a power play midway through the second period.
St. Louis has killed 23 straight power plays against Minnesota over six games.
NOTES: Steve Cash and Josh Pauls, members of the USA's gold-medal winning Paralympic hockey team, were honored before the game. ... Minnesota began a four-game trip that also has stops at Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago. ... The Blues, shooting for their first Presidents' Trophy since the 1999-2000 season, lead Boston by one point in the overall standings. Both teams have nine games remaining. ... Minnesota LW Dany Heatley has gone a season-high 13 games without a goal.
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