Greiss makes 35 saves, Blues shut out Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Thomas Greiss made 35 saves, including 23 in the third period, for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

It was the first shutout of the season for Greiss, who was making his first start since Dec. 20.
"I've been around awhile and played in all kinds of situations," Greiss said. "We've got a good goalie coach here (David Alexander). We do good drills and just stay on top of practice every day and stay pretty sharp there."

Brayden Schenn scored twice, and Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist for the Blues (20-18-3), who were coming off a 5-4 loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
"I think we've done a good job this year on back to backs, and I don't think we have not been energized on back to backs," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "That's kind of what I was thinking.
"I felt like we were going to get a good effort tonight. We had some new guys in the lineup, a lot of young guys in the lineup. They're going to play hard, they're going to do their thing, and our veterans did a real good job of managing the game tonight, in my opinion. Managing the game, managing the puck."
Filip Gustavsson made 21 saves for the Wild (22-14-3), who have lost two straight, including 6-5 in overtime at the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
"I think the third period is more like how we used to play on nights where we win the game," Gustavsson said. "Just need to try and find a way to do it in the first and second period, too, and really force a goal. Maybe do an ugly goal or something. That's all we can do."
Saad gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 8:17 of the first period, shooting into an open net on a power play after Jake Neighbours slid him a rebound in front.
It was Saad's fourth straight game with a goal.
"It's always nice to score goals and contribute to wins," Saad said. "My linemates are making great plays out there, so it's nice to see them go in."

Schenn extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:00 of the third period, finishing a 2-on-1 with Saad shortly after exiting the penalty box.
"Yeah, it's one of those things where the boys killed it off and won the battle," Schenn said. "'Saader's' playing great right now and he was able to make that play."
Schenn shot into an empty net with six seconds remaining for the 3-0 final.
Minnesota outshot St. Louis 23-4 in the third period.
"We liked our game today, defensively for sure," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "Offensively, we couldn't freaking score, right? You even look at the end there, the pucks we threw at the net were ping-ponging all over the place and didn't find their way not even into the net, they didn't find their way onto the net. Normally they do. We got enough pucks there. We got 20-plus shots plus the ones that didn't get there. I don't know how many attempts we had at the net, so I'm not worried about that. We liked our defensive structure tonight. We liked our commitment defensively. We did a lot of good things. We clearly didn't score a goal."
NOTES:Minnesota played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Forward Jordan Greenway did not play for the Wild because of an illness. Evason said he was not available for tonight but would not elaborate on the timeline for his return. … Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo did not play for the Blues because of a lower-body injury he sustained against the Canadiens on Saturday. Berube said he is day to day. … Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury missed the game after returning to his home in Montreal to attend to a personal matter. Evason said Fleury will travel with the team for their game at the New York Rangers on Tuesday.