St. Louis, MO – Saturday might have been the easiest shutout of Brian Elliott's NHL career.
The 26-year-old netminder needed to make just 13 saves to record his sixth shutout of the season and 15th of his career as the St. Louis Blues blanked the Minnesota Wild, 4-0, at Scottrade Center.
Ryan Reaves, Barret Jackman, Andy McDonald and Vladimir Sobotka scored, while Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk added a pair of assists each for the Blues, who have won six of their last seven and five straight at home.
"When we play fast defensively and get it going quickly with the puck support, we're a much better team," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said. " When we play slowly, it's not effective. We have to play fast for 60 minutes."
Josh Harding was tagged for all four goals on 34 shots for the skidding Wild, who have lost seven straight games.
The Blues opened the scoring at 9:50 of the first stanza when Scott Nichol took the puck behind the net and tried to stuff home a wrap-around. Harding was there to make the stop, but the rebound came right out to Reaves, who blasted it into the net from the slot.
St. Louis added a pair of goals in the second period to take a comfortable 3-0 lead into the locker room after two.
Jackman lit the lamp 4:36 into the second period when he jumped on a loose puck and ripped a slap shot past Harding from the left point for a 2-0 advantage. Then, McDonald essentially put the game away when he deflected it home off a shot from Pietrangelo with just 41 seconds left in the frame.
The Blues capped the scoring at 8:11 of the final period when David Perron sent a tape-to-tape pass from the left wing boards to the slot for Sobotka, who fired a quick wrist shot on net that Harding got a piece of, but the puck squeezed through his legs.
"They played a great game, no question," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said. "We came out with the right mindset, but there are definitely things we need to improve on."
Game Notes
The teams split the season series this season, with each team winning twice on home ice...The Blues improved to 26-3-4 at home this season and have gone 18-0-3 in their last 21 games on home ice...St. Louis converted 1-of-6 power play chances, while Minnesota failed to score on three man-advantage tries...The Blues will visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, while the Wild will attempt to break their slide on Sunday against the Boston Bruins.
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