Tarasenko, Blues pull away from Wild in Game 5, take series lead

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored a natural hat trick in the third period for the St. Louis Blues, who pulled away for a 5-2 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

The Blues lead the best-of-7 series 3-2. Game 6 will be in St. Louis on Thursday.
"Happy to win," Tarasenko said. "Obviously, happy to score, I'm not going to lie, but more happy to win."

Jordan Binnington made 30 saves in his second straight start, and Justin Faulk and Pavel Buchnevich each had two assists for St. Louis, the No. 3 seed from the Central Division.
"Our team is built to go deep into games and deep into playoffs and deep into the series," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "You know, that's where we're at. Today was a good example. We're down 2-1 and we went out and capitalized and got it done."
Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals, and Kevin Fiala had two assists for Minnesota, the No. 2 seed from the Central. Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves.
"The goal isn't for a player to play well," Kaprizov said. "The goal is for the team to play well, and we didn't win. Ultimately, that's what we play for. We have a chance to make some changes to get the series back home for Game 7, and that's what we have to do."
Tarasenko put St. Louis in front 3-2 at 1:03 of the third period, taking a backhand pass from Buchnevich, who was behind the net, and scoring all alone in front.
"Buchnevich] did this many times before," Tarasenko said of the pass. "We talk a lot about staying connected in the O-zone. He's a great skill player and very unselfish all the time. Not surprised he made this play, and that was a great play and big goal for us."
***[RELATED: [Complete Wild vs. Blues series coverage]*
Tarasenko extended the lead 4-2 at 2:31 with a shot glove side from the top of the right circle before scoring into an empty net at 18:27 for the 5-2 final.
Ryan O'Reilly gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:53 of the first period when he converted a rebound at the top of the crease on the power play.
Kaprizov tied it 1-1 at 13:15 with a power-play goal from the top of the left circle through a screen by Marcus Foligno. He then made it 2-1 at 17:07 with another power-play goal, this time shooting short side over Binnington's right shoulder from low in the left circle.
"[Kaprizov is] unbelievable, right? He's unbelievable," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "He's physical. It'd be nice to have 20 of them.
"This kid just continues competing his [butt] off, and goals aside, he wants to win. He wills the team. He just didn't have enough guys willing alongside him tonight."

Brandon Saad tied it 2-2 at 15:28 of the second period when he got inside position on Jared Spurgeon and redirected a centering pass from Jordan Kyrou.
"I think our third period there was kind of our identity," Saad said. "I think we got better as the game went on. … But yeah, you see our third period, being simple, going north, kind of just getting on the forecheck, making them come 200 feet. Early on, we kind of let them play half ice or two-thirds ice, and they were getting rush chances. I think we tightened it up as we went along, and we're happy to close that out."
NOTES:Tarasenko's hat trick was the second of his career in the postseason. His previous also came against Minnesota in Game 2 of the 2015 Western Conference First Round. … Binnington earned his 18th career postseason win, passing Greg Millen and Mike Liut for the most in Blues history. He is 2-0 in this series after losing his previous nine postseason starts. … St. Louis defenseman Nick Leddy returned after missing three games with an upper-body injury. He had two hits and one block in 18:01 of ice time. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo also returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. He had two hits and one block in 10:50 of ice time. … Kaprizov extended his goal and point streak to four games (seven goals, one assist). His seven goals are the most in one series in Wild history.