ST. LOUIS — Ville Husso made 31 saves for his first NHL shutout for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Enterprise Center on Wednesday.
It was the first shutout by a Blues goalie this season, and it came in Husso’s 15th NHL start.
“When I came to the rink, I was thinking like, ‘Have fun tonight,'” Husso said. “There was no pressure for our team to play. It worked out pretty well and got a 4-0 win. It was nice.
“I was dialed in right away and saw all the pucks. Guys did a good job too in front of the net boxing out.”
David Perron had a goal and two assists, and Torey Krug had a goal and an assist for the Blues (26-20-9), who will finish fourth in the eight-team Honda West Division.
“I thought overall the game was pretty good,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “They pushed hard early and pushed hard at a couple other times. But I thought our guys were pretty engaged all game, did a good job.
“[Husso] had a real good game. Early on, made some key saves. They came out hard, and we were caught a little bit on our heels and he made some big saves, and there was some other times in the game where he made some big saves too. He played a heck of a game.”
Cam Talbot made 23 saves for the Wild (35-15-5), who will finish third in the West.
“The mistakes that we made were clearly assignment mistakes that allowed for wide open opportunities, obviously,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. “Those things are hopefully easily corrected with some video and some discussion.”
St. Louis has at least one point in 10 of its past 11 games (7-1-3). Minnesota had its six-game point streak end (4-0-2). The teams will play again here Thursday in the final regular-season game for each.
Ivan Barbashev gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 12:54 of the first period on the rebound of a Perron shot, and Jaden Schwartz made it 2-0 at 14:40 with a shot from the crease.
Krug scored his first even-strength goal since Feb. 9, 2020, with the Boston Bruins (62 games) to extend the lead to 3-0 at 9:56 of the second period. It was his first goal since Jan. 23 (45 games).
“Obviously, you want to help the team as much as you can,” Krug said. “I hit a few posts this year, and it wasn’t going in for me. I don’t think it really affected the mental side of the game for me, but it definitely feels good.”
Perron scored with a one-timer from the high slot off a pass from Krug at 4-on-4 at 13:10 to make it 4-0.
Each team had four shots on goal in the third period, and the Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play in the game, including one in the third. The Blues did not have a power-play opportunity.
“I think the little details weren’t quite there, and it cost us tonight,” Wild forward Marcus Johansson said. “It was kind of an uphill battle after that. They played well. I think we did a lot of good things that we should take with us, but that’s the way it went.”
NOTES: Wild rookie forward Kirill Kaprizov had his six-game point streak and four-game multipoint streak end (five goals, five assists). … Minnesota has been shut out four times this season. … Wild forward Zach Parise was a healthy scratch for a third straight game. … St. Louis’ previous shutout was March 8, 2020, when Jake Allen made 29 saves in a 2-0 win at the Chicago Blackhawks. … Perron has scored 55 points (17 goals, 38 assists) in 55 games this season. He has never had a point-per-game season in the NHL. … St. Louis forward Ryan O’Reilly had an assist to give him 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in the past 11 games. … Blues forward Klim Kostin had a team-high six hits in 12:44 in his season debut.
