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The Minnesota Wild will take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after 

beating the St. Louis Blues Sunday afternoon

The Wild won the series four games to two. 

Fan Ryan Normandin traveled a long way to get to the Xcel Energy Center.

The Minneapolis resident had his ticket in hand and a Wild flag wrapped around his shoulders Sunday afternoon. He didn't get to see the previous game.

"I didn't get a chance to watch it. I just got back from deployment yesterday," he said. "I was in Kuwait."

The Minnesota Army National Guardsman watched a few games overseas, but wanted to see one in person.

"So I came back, I called this guy and I said, 'We need to go to some playoff games.' So I'm pretty excited to see them progress, especially this season," he said. 

And progress they did. The Wild, which have never won a series in fewer than seven games, beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 and took the first round series in six games.

It didn't take the Wild long to score. A little more than seven minutes in, Minnesota native and Wild star Zach Parise drove up the left side of the ice, and unleashed a snap shot from the side of the net that snuck in through an almost imperceptible gap between the pipe and St. Louis goalie Jake Allen's right arm.

The Wild scored again midway though the second period, but with just four seconds left in the period, the Blues put one in, making it a one-goal game.


Just one minute into the third period, the margin went back to two when Parise struck again, putting away a rebound on the doorstep of the St. Louis net.

Parise dropped to one knee and pumped his fist in the air. 

"I was really excited. I was really happy after that one, with them getting the late one in the second," he said. 

The Wild notched an empty net goal with two minutes left to clinch the game.

As the horn sounded, fan Nate Wittenberg of Park Rapids said he feels the team might have what it takes to head deep into the playoffs.

"It's big. It's big for the state of hockey. The St. Louis Blues is a pretty tough out," he said. "If you want to talk about destiny, I think it's our time. We earned it. It's us."

The effort was bolstered by the play of Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who was named as one of three candidates for the Vezina Trophy for the best goalie in the National Hockey League.

On Sunday, Dubnyk turned away 30 of 31 St Louis shots.

Wild Coach Mike Yeo gave the goalie credit for setting the tone.

"When you're goalie's playing confident when the heat is on, I think the rest of the group feeds off of that," he said. 

Parise said the team played the second half of its season against a wall, having to fight back to get into a playoff spot. He said that gave them good preparation for the postseason.

"We've been doing that a long time. We haven't had a lot of room for error," he said. "We've been playing in tight games. We've been playing in games for a long time that we've had to win. We're comfortable doing that. We're able to capitalize when we had some chances tonight."

Yeo praised the Blues, who exited the playoffs in the first round for the third straight year, but put up a fight against the Wild.

"That's a great hockey team. A very well-coached hockey team. You have to fight for every inch out there," he said. "So to be here and start getting ready for the second round is a great accomplishment for our group."

The Wild have a day off Monday. The series against Chicago begins later this week.

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The Wild, which have never won a series in fewer than seven games, beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 and took the first round series in six games.

Wild eliminate Blues, advance to play Chicago

Go Deeper.

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