Marc-Andre Fleury makes 29 saves, Wild beat Blues to take series lead

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Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots, and the Minnesota Wild beat the St. Louis Blues 5-1 on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.

Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Greenway, Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin also scored as the Wild improved to 8-8 all-time in Game 3s.

Fleury, playing in a 16th consecutive Stanley Cup playoffs, earned his 92nd career playoff win.

"St. Louis had good pressure to start," Fleury said. "I thought our team defended well. We stuck together, stayed in the middle and didn’t give them too much."

Ryan O’Reilly scored a power play goal and Ville Husso made 28 saves for the Blues.

St. Louis lost Torey Krug to a lower body injury early in the first period. Krug, who will be re-evaluated on Saturday, is the third Blues defensemen to get hurt in the series.

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Minnesota Wild's Ryan Hartman (38), Jonas Brodin (25) and teammates celebrate a goal against the St. Louis Blues during the first period in Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series Friday, May 6, 2022, in St. Louis.  (AP Photo/Michael Thomas)

"It’s tough, it’s tough on the ‘D’, it’s tough on the team," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We lose our quarterback power-play guy and it’s what it is."

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday afternoon in St. Louis before shifting back to St. Paul, Minnesota, for Game 5.

The Wild wasted no time quieting the crowd by taking advantage of the Blues’ aggressiveness for two early goals.

St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko was caught chipping in the offensive