Kyrou scores hat trick, leads Blues past Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jordan Kyrou had a hat trick, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-1 at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

It was Kyrou’s 5th NHL hat trick.

“[Minnesota’s] right above us in the standings,” Kyrou said. “Ever since we came back from the break, we’ve been playing playoff hockey and we’re just trying to keep that work ethic going every game.”

Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist for the Blues (32-28-7), who had lost two in a row but are 8-2-2 in their past 12 games. Joel Hofer made 17 saves.

“Last game against Pittsburgh [a 5-3 loss] we didn’t feel we had enough desperation,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “We thought our desperation was definitely on the uptick and it’s going to need to continue that way.”

Jake Middleton scored for the Wild (37-25-5) who have lost two in a row and four of their past five (1-3-1). Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves.

“It's a real competitive time of the year,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “And tonight I thought there [were] some certain circumstances in the game where I think our attention detail wasn't where it needed to be. But as we talked last game, we didn't have it tonight. But these are the games where there's another one coming on Monday, right?

“So we're in a tight race. Our team reacts, responds, works, competes all the time. So now we’ve got to … take the lessons out of this one, focus in on L.A.”

Schenn made it 1-0 at 4:17 of the first period, batting the puck down a Cam Fowler shot to beat Gustavsson low glove side with a backhand.

“Just a good shot from Fowler and it went off the guy’s glove and got a bounce,” Schenn said. “The goalie was kind of fighting through traffic and got a bounce and it went in.”

Jake Neighbours extended the lead 2-0 at 10:51 of the second period after a blocked shot popped to him just below the left circle.

Kyrou made it 3-0 at 12:22 when he put in a rebound of Dylan Holloway’s shot.

But Middleton responded 25 seconds later at 12:47 to bring it 3-1 after Hofer turned the puck over to Middleton just outside the blue line who skated in for the open shot atop the left circle.

“I hope it clears up next game and we can score so we win,” Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said. “Honestly, everyone wants to go and score goals and win hockey games. No difference in here.

“Right now, the puck doesn’t go in and it’s not a lack of trying or whatever but maybe when you get in a situation a little bit extra poise that you usually have when things go well is not there. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s frustrating for you guys to watch but imagine being out there and feeling the same way and you want to do but it’s no excuses. It’s not good enough. Next game we’ve got to compete and we’ve got to show up and be hungry. We’ve got to bounce back after this.”

Kyrou pushed it to 4-1 at 11:30 of the third period with a wraparound goal and completed the hat trick with an empty net goal at 17:40 for the 5-1 final.

“Yeah, games are tough this time of year,” Schenn said. “Everyone’s scoreboard watching. That’s just the reality of it. And we’ve got to keep on climbing up the standings. We’re in a dogfight with a lot of teams and it’s fun. It’s when you want to be playing meaningful hockey and competing every night.”

NOTES: Kyrou had his 24th career multigoal game. In the past 25 seasons, the only Blues players with as many are Vladimir Tarasenko (39), David Perron (26) and Keith Tkachuk (24). … Blues forward Robert Thomas had two assists for his 60th multiassist game and tied Al MacInnis for the fifth most in franchise history. … Wild forward Marcus Foligno had a team-high five hits.