Saad scores in OT to lift Blues past Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Brandon Saad scored at 2:05 of overtime, and Jordan Kyrou had a hat trick when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-4 at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Saad took a pass from Kasperi Kapanen and skated between Matt Boldy and Jake Middleton before beating Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.

"I saw [Kapanen] coming with speed on the right side and gave him the puck, and I felt like I had a step on the guy and joined him," Saad said. "[Kapanen] made a great play and [the puck] found a way in."

Pavel Buchnevich had three assists for St. Louis (38-30-3), which is 6-1-0 in its past seven games. Jordan Binnington made 30 saves.

The Blues are four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, having played one more game. Vegas defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Saturday.

"That was an exciting game, good hockey game on both sides," St. Louis interim coach Drew Bannister said. "A lot of back and forth. Obviously happy with the outcome, the guys stuck with it, we started the third really well and put ourselves in a position to win that hockey game. [The Wild] had a push in the last few minutes to tie it up and we did a great job in overtime. We possessed the puck for the whole overtime and I thought it was a great play by 'Kappy' to hit [Saad] with speed."

Marco Rossi scored twice, Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, and Kirill Kaprizov had two assists for Minnesota (34-28-9), which has lost three of four (1-1-2). Fleury made 22 saves.

The Wild are six points behind the Golden Knights and have played one more game.

"I think their heads are up," Wild coach John Hynes said. "I mean, obviously you're disappointed in the game …You have to just keep taking it game by game and then [we've] got a big one on Thursday (against the San Jose Sharks)."

Jake Neighbours gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 10:07 of the first period when he shoveled a rebound past Fleury. He has seven points (five goals, two assists) in a six-game point streak.

"It's a big goal by him to get us the lead there," Kyrou said. "It's great that we can all contribute."

Marcus Johansson tied it 1-1 at 4:45 of the second period with a one-timer from the slot off a give-and-go with Faber.

Rossi put Minnesota ahead 2-1 at 11:44 on a breakaway. Following a sequence when Fleury lost his glove and stick, the puck came loose to Kaprizov, who passed to Rossi, who scored five-hole on Binnington.

Kyrou tied it 2-2 at 12:49 before Rossi gave Minnesota the lead less than three minutes later. He redirected a pass from Mats Zuccarellofor his 20th goal of the season to make it 3-2 at 15:11.

"If we would have won the game, [20 goals] would be different," Rossi said. "Yeah, it's nice. I try to help the team."

Kyrou tied it 3-3 at 3:50 of the third period before completing the hat trick at 10:01 for a 4-3 lead.

"Going into the game, our record's right there with [the Wild] in the standings, and we're fighting for that last wild card spot, so it was a big game for us," Kyrou said.

Faber tied it 4-4 at 14:51.

"I mean, a point's a point," he said. "But we're at that time of the season where [we need] points. But again, there's no give in this group. We're not going to give up until Game 82. … it's just frustrating. Would have liked two points."

NOTES: Blues defenseman Nick Leddy had an assist in his 1,000th NHL game. The Minnesota native was selected by the Wild in the first round (No. 16) of the 2009 NHL Draft but never played for them. … Faber (seven goals, 33 assists) became the second rookie in Wild history to score at least 40 points in a single season, joining Kaprizov (51 points in 2020-21).