St. Louis defeats Wild 3-2 on late goal

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jay McKee scored the winning goal in the third period and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Thursday night.

Keith Tkachuk and Martin Rucinsky also scored for the Blues, who have yet to lose back-to-back games this season. Manny Legace stopped 23 shots for his sixth win in eight starts.

Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra each had a goal and an assist in their returns for Minnesota. After opening 7-0-1, the Wild are winless in five games -- their longest stretch since a seven-game streak Feb. 22 to March 7, 2004.

Coming down the slot, McKee took a pass from Ryan Johnson and beat Josh Harding low with a slap shot from between the circles at 7:46. It was McKee's first goal in 34 games.

The Wild had a number of excellent scoring chances late, but were stonewalled by Legace, whose goals-against-average increased from 1.87 to 1.89. His best save was a pad stop on a slap shot by Demitra from the right circle.

-- AP