The Blues hardly lose too late as they lose their opener 4-1 at home to the Wild

The Blues provided the chances. The whistles and horns prevented their goals.

During a 4-1 loss to the Wild on Tuesday night at Enterprise Center, the Blues controlled the tempo, the puck and possession, but couldn't get to the net in time.

Jordan Kyrou's apparent goal was canceled out by an early whistle. Ryan Suter's last-second shot crossed the goal line shortly after the end of the second period.

Minnesota, on the other hand, scored on the few chances it was given, scoring on a power play in the first period while being outnumbered in the second period and going to an empty net at even strength in the third period.

Minnesota goaltender Filip Gustavsson scored the rare goalie goal with 8.1 seconds left.

Mathieu Joseph scored a goal for the Blues in the third period, bringing them to 3-1.

The Blues were only about a second shy of scoring not one, but two goals in the second period.

After Jakub Lauko scored a shorthanded goal by deflecting a backcheck from Kyrou to give the Wild a 2-0 lead, Kyrou himself tried to pull St. Louis within a goal. Kyrou was initially robbed on a post-to-post save by Minnesota goaltender Filip Gustavsson, and Jake Neighbors knocked the rebound away at the side of the net.

When referee Carter Sandiak lost sight of the puck, he canceled the play and Kyrou pushed the still loose puck into the empty net. The Blues protested against the seemingly early whistle, but to no avail.

The replay of Kyrou's no-goal was shown on the Enterprise Center's video board and sent the sellout crowd into a frenzy after the home opener, with coordinated chants and thunderous boos as Sandiak called for a sharp penalty on Mathieu Joseph shortly after the game.

At the end of the second period, the Blues failed again when Suter's last-second attack crossed the goal line a split second after the clock reached triple zeros. Suter threw a prayer shot from the left boards while Neighbors was at the front of the net and beat Gustavsson a touch too late.

The Wild's 2-0 lead at the end of the second period was no indication of the type of game the Blues had been playing for 40 minutes. They had more than twice as many shot attempts as Minnesota (56-27). In the first 35:57 minutes they only allowed four even-strength Wild throws before Minnesota strung together five in the final minutes of the second period.

The Wild needed 19 seconds to score on the power play after Alexey Toropchenko was called in for high-scoring Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber. Replays showed that Toropchenko never hit Faber with his stick, but instead drove him into the boards.

Ryan Hartman scored for Minnesota, beating Jordan Binnington on the rush, but much of the running was done by Kirill Kaprizov. Kaprizov received a pass from Faber along the sideboard and extended his stick to flick it past an outstretched Brayden Schenn to create space in the neutral zone.

Kaprizov raced down the left side of the neutral zone, then cut up the middle as he crossed the offensive blue line, drawing in all three remaining Blues defensemen – Radek Faksa, Colton Parayko and Nick Leddy. Kaprizov then sent a backhand to a speedy Hartman, who beat Binnington cleanly.

It was Hartman's second goal against Binnington since his collision with Binnington in March 2023, which almost led to Binnington facing Marc-Andre Fleury.

It was also the second power play goal the Blues allowed this season.

Minnesota extended the lead to 3-0 just 46 seconds into the third period, taking advantage of Leddy's loss of the ball while trying to get out of the Blues zone. Kaprizov knocked the puck down and the game ended with Marco Rossi's pass into the back of the net.

It was another goal for Leddy while he was on the ice. In four games, Leddy scored seven goals, almost two per game.

In the third period, Leddy was demoted to the third pair with Matthew Kessel, while Suter took his place on the top pair alongside Parayko. At the end of the third period, Suter also took the penalty shootout in place of Leddy and Parayko.