Blues fall to Wild for fifth loss in six games

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Wes Walz scored two goals, and Antii Laaksonen had two assists as the Minnesota Wild beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 Sunday night.

Manny Fernandez stopped 21 shots for the Wild, who snapped their three-game losing streak and sent the Blues to their fifth loss in six games.

St. Louis, which played its third game in four days, came into the game tied for first place in the Central Division with Detroit at 76 points.

Filip Kuba scored a short-handed goal for the Wild, who went 0-for-5 on the power play.

Brent Johnson had 16 saves, and Pavol Demitra scored his fourth goal in five games for the Blues.

The game featured several minor skirmishes, but tensions boiled over with 2:13 left after Walz put a hard check on Demitra on the boards. Keith Tkachuk hit Walz with his stick, knocking him to the ice. Then, Willie Mitchell jumped on Tkachuk's back and the teams piled on each other behind the Wild net.

Tkachuk was given a match penalty for intent to injure.

The Wild grabbed the lead early when Walz scored 1:53 in. Walz picked up a rebound of Mitchell's shot and was able to sneak the puck over Johnson's right leg to make it 1-0.

Walz made it 2-0 5:40 later on a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Johnson's stick. It's the second time in Walz's nine-year NHL career that he's scored 11 goals in a season. His career high is 18 in the 2000-01 season with Minnesota.

The Blues tied it with a power-play goal after Brad Brown was called for interference. Demitra picked up a loose puck during a scramble in front of the net and lifted it over Fernandez at 12:53.

Kuba nearly extended Minnesota's lead with just over 13 minutes to play. But his hard slap shot from just inside the blue line clanked off the post.

But Kuba's next shot did find the back of the net. With Minnesota skating short-handed, Laaksonen found Kuba on a two-on-one breakaway and Kuba wristed it past Johnson at 9:28 for his fifth goal.

Noteworthy

Tkachuk's second-period assist extended his point streak to 12 games.

Walz's last two-goal game was Jan. 8, 2002, against Montreal.