MINNEAPOLIS — Space wasn't in short supply on the Wild bench in the second period.
That's when the team was briefly down to only 16 skaters and just nine of them were forwards.
Already short-staffed due to injury and illness, the Wild offense reflected its circumstances and was blanked 3-0 by the Blues on Sunday in front of 18,745 at Xcel Energy Center to wrap a weekend back-to-back winless.
This is the first time since Dec. 7-9 the team has dropped consecutive games, and the Wild suffered their first shutout since Nov. 8.
In the previous three games, they posted five goals each time out and had been averaging almost 4 a game for about a month.
But this wasn't the same lineup that had been filling the net with goals lately.
Mats Zuccarello was out for a second straight game with an upper-body injury, and Jordan Greenway was missing because of a non-COVID illness. That left only 11 forwards in action against St. Louis, but the team's manpower took another hit in-game.
Ryan Hartman left in the second after getting caught up high by the Blues' Robert Thomas.
While he was away, Joel Eriksson Ek exited after a collision with Noel Acciari that saw Eriksson Ek's chin connect with Acciari's shoulder.
Hartman returned before the second adjourned, but Eriksson Ek didn't resurface until the third period.
Thomas was penalized for roughing Hartman, but the Wild didn't register a shot on the ensuing power play and had just two pucks reach the St. Louis net the rest of the period. That lifted them to three total shots for the frame.
After the intermission, the Wild were much more aggressive, doubling their second period shot total within the first handful of minutes of the third.
They continued to dominate puck possession and went on to receive only their second power play of the game, but they failed to capitalize on the advantage and ended 0-for-3.
To make matters worse for them, the Blues' Brayden Schenn polished off a 2-on-1 out of the penalty box at 14 minutes to double St. Louis' lead. Saad picked up his second point of the night on the play. Schenn added an empty-net goal with six seconds to go. Ultimately, the Wild outshot the Blues 24-4 in the third.
St. Louis goaltender Thomas Greiss warded off all that pressure, turning a ho-hum effort into a well-earned 36-save shutout.
As a result, Kaprizov's point streak at home ended at 14 games, which tied the franchise record also held by Marian Gaborik (2007-08). During this run, Kaprizov racked up 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points.
Like the Wild, who were coming off a 6-5 shootout loss at Buffalo on Saturday, St. Louis was also completing two games in two days, but the Blues were sharper early.
Just 8:17 into the first period, they converted on the power play when Jake Neighbours fed a Colton Parayko rebound to Brandon Saad for an uncontested tap-in at the back post. St. Louis went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who was returning after leaving his last start early and sitting out the Buffalo game due to illness, made 21 stops.
This was only the second game the Wild have lost this season in the second half of a back-to-back. They're now 4-2 in that situation.
