Zach Parise on Blues’ blowout win: ‘We may have been a little cocky’
The Minnesota Wild had every reason to feel confident heading into Game 4 of their series against the St. Louis Blues.
They pitched a shutout in Game 3. They had their home fans ready to roar. The Blues were in a state of disarray, scrambling their lines in practice ahead of the game.
Then St. Louis scored three goals in the first 10:06 of the game. Then three more in a 13:11 span in the second period. The final score was 6-1, the series was tied at 2-2 and the Wild were left wondering how to cope with this embarrassment at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday night.
“We might have came in a little cocky. We felt really good, and rightfully so. I don’t know if we thought it would be easy game,” said Wild winger Zach Parise, via Michael Russo.
“We went from feeling awesome about ourselves, feeling like we can’t be beat and we get a little dose of reality, a little slap in face.”
Where did it go wrong?
“How much time you have?” asked coach Mike Yeo.
“They were on top of their game, and we weren’t close to being on top of ours.”
The Blues got first-period goals from fourth-liner Ryan Reaves, Vladimir Tarasenko and David Backes, his first of the postseason. Jared Spurgeon’s power-play goal in the second period got the Wild back into it at 1:41 of the second, but three more goals by Paul Stastny (his first of the playoffs), a highlight reel goal by Tarasenko (his fifth) and Patrik Berglund put it away.
“It didn’t have the feel of a game [where] we were going to come back,” said Yeo.
Devan Dubnyk was pulled after giving up that sixth goal, 16:50 into the second period. Darcy Kuemper finished out the game, but Dubynk will return in Game 5.
“I think he’ll react great,” said Yeo. “I have no concerns about that.”
Dubnyk hadn’t given up more than three goals for the Wild since he started with the team on Jan. 15, save for a Jan. 20 game at Detroit when he gave up four.
“Forget about it,” he said after Game 4, when asked how he’ll cope with the blowout loss. “It doesn’t make a difference if we lost 1-0 or we lost the way we did.
“We’ve all got better than that.”
Game 5 is Friday night back in St. Louis.
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