St. Louis bounces back from loss, beats Wild 5-3

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues came up with a powerful response a day after a demoralizing loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

Keith Tkachuk and David Perron scored on a two-man advantage in the second period, David Backes also scored on a power play and the Blues held on for a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night.

"This is the way we're going to have to play," Blues center Andy McDonald said. "We can't afford to lose hockey games, especially two in a row. We let it go after last night and turned around and got prepared for today."

Brad Winchester and Brad Boyes added goals, T.J. Oshie and Carlo Colaiacovo each had two assists, and Chris Mason stopped 19 shots. The Blues tied the Wild for 10th place in the Western Conference, rebounding from a 5-2 home loss to Detroit.

Andrew Brunette had a goal and an assist, and Stephane Veilleux and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored for the Wild, coming off a 3-2 overtime loss in Dallas on Saturday night. Niklas Backstrom stopped 25 shots in the first two periods, and Josh Harding made six saves in the third.

St. Louis was 3-for-7 on the power play after going 7-for-53 in its last 15 games.

Backes, who has 23 goals on the season, has five goals and nine points in his last seven.

— AP