Fleury, Wild top Blues in Game 3, take lead in Western First Round series

ST. LOUIS -- Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek each had a goal and an assist, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-1 in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Enterprise Center on Friday.

The Wild lead the series 2-1. Game 4 is here Sunday.
Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman each had two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for the Wild, the No. 2 seed in the Central Division.
"I just thought we simplified it," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "We weren't trying to go east-west. We were just getting pucks into the zone and skating, and that's the game, right? And you know, everybody talks about our team being a physical team, but we can skate."
Ryan O'Reilly scored, and Ville Husso made 28 saves for the Blues, the No. 3 seed from the Central.
"We came out with great energy, feeding off the building, and I thought we did some great things well, but maybe got too excited offensively," O'Reilly said. "We've got to be responsible and then build our game from there. Obviously we were down two early, and yeah, we need to respond quicker. We just kind of got a little frustrated, and it kind of just took the wind out of our sails. It was too tough to generate anything to kind of get the momentum back. Yeah, it was just difficult."
RELATED: [Complete Wild vs. Blues series coverage]
Blues defenseman Marco Scandella returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury, but they lost defenseman Torey Krug midway through the first when he
limped to the locker room
following a neutral zone hit on Wild forward Matt Boldy at 10:57.
Jordan Greenway gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead 39 seconds into the first period, converting a one-timer off a 2-on-1 with Eriksson Ek after Ivan Barbashev's turnover in the offensive zone.
"St. Louis had good pressure to start," Fleury said. "I thought our team defended well. We stuck together, stayed in the middle and didn't give them too much."
Kaprizov made it 2-0 at 2:18 when he banked a shot off Husso's left skate from behind the net after Husso initially got a piece of Kaprizov's breakaway attempt.
"He's one of those players that finds a way to score from everywhere, and it's nothing new for us," Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said. "It's good to see. You work hard and you get the bounces, and today we got bounces."

Once down two goals, the Blues tried to up their physical intensity instead of playing the game.
"I think, obviously, we got pretty excited being back home with the crowd," St. Louis center Tyler Bozak said. "And maybe sometimes we hit when we didn't need to or went out of our way to make a hit. We've got to be careful with that, running around too much, and just be poised, and we'll be ready for next game."
Zuccarello increased the lead to 3-0 at 7:44 of the second period, converting a 2-on-1 by keeping the puck and beating Husso high on the stick side after a Blues offensive zone turnover.
Eriksson Ek made it 4-0 22 seconds into the third period when he scored from the slot off a pass from Foligno.

"The third and fourth goal there, their goals that [they got], we shouldn't have allowed to happen," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said.
O'Reilly's power-play goal cut the Wild lead to 4-1 at 2:17, a shot from the right circle after a flip pass by Colton Parayko.
Jonas Brodin scored into an empty net at 12:31 for the 5-1 final.
"It's good to get a win here, get some confidence," Zuccarello said. "At the same time, this game is over. You're looking towards the next one."
NOTES:Berube said Krug will be reevaluated on Saturday but didn't have more information on the injury. … Fleury won his 92nd Stanley Cup Playoff game to tie Grant Fuhr for third in NHL history behind Patrick Roy (151) and Martin Brodeur (113). … Two goals in 2:18 were the fastest to start a playoff game in Wild history (5:16, Game 5, 2016 First Round). … Minnesota ended a seven-game losing streak in St. Louis; the Wild were outscored 35-15 in those games. ... Scandella was minus-2 in 17:18. ... Blues defensemen Nick Leddy (upper body) and Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) did not play. Leddy has missed two games, Bortuzzo one. ... St. Louis finished with 33 hits, 21 in the first period.