wild rally late in the second period to spark its trip to the Ca

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Blues centre T.J. Oshie knew exactly what to do with the puck that completed his first three-goal game in the NHL. That souvenir now belongs to his 10-day old daughter, Lyla Grace, who was born on March 17. "Its definitely going to her," he said. Oshies hat trick and a 27-save performance by Ryan Miller led the Blues to a 5-1 rout over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. St. Louis has won three in a row overall and nine straight against the Wild. The Blues lead the NHL with 107 points. Jaden Schwartz and Brenden Morrow also scored for St. Louis, which has points in its last 10 home games. Miller improved to 9-2-1 since being acquired from Buffalo on Feb. 28. He has a 2.03 goals against average and a .918 save percentage with the Blues. Zach Parise scored for the Wild, who had earned points in their previous three road games but have lost six of eight overall. Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves but fell to 12-8-4. He has won just twice in nine starts. Oshie, who has a career-high 21 goals, scored twice in the first period -- including a short-handed goal with 26 seconds left that made it 2-0. He converted from the slot at 4:43 and then beat Kuemper on a breakaway for the Blues fifth short-handed goal of the season. Oshie tipped in a shot from Jay Bouwmeester at 7:18 of the third period to complete the hat trick. "This has been an exciting couple of months for me," said Oshie, who played for the United States in the Olympics, "but she trumps everything for me." The modest Oshie refused to take credit for his big night. "The pucks just happened to go off my stick," he said. But linemates David Backes and Alexander Steen were happy to heap praise on Oshie. "Hes been a horse for us all year," Backes said. "He strung a couple of great shots together and a tip on the last one. "I couldnt be happier for him." The Blues posted a hat trick for the second straight game as Backes scored three times in a 5-3 win at Toronto on Tuesday. That was the first time St. Louis recorded back-to-back three-goal games since Dec. 20-23, 2000, when Pavol Demitra and Michal Handzus accomplished the feat. The Blues lead the Western Conference and are battling Boston for the Presidents Trophy for the top mark in the NHL. They are one point ahead of the Bruins with nine games remaining for both teams. "We wanted to make a statement to the league that we deserve to be where were at," Oshie said. "We want that target on our backs." St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock believes his club is peaking at the right time. "Were not going to be overwhelmed because were the favourites in a playoff series," he said. "Were going to embrace it." Even Minnesota coach Mike Yeo was impressed with the Blues. "Theyve got a great team" he said. "They smelled blood and they went after it. "This was a team loss." Miller made nine saves in the first 6:07 before coasting to the win. "We got settled into our 5-on-5 game and really limited the puck possession by the other team," he said. "This was a big step forward." Schwartz netted his 23rd goal of the season on a power play midway through the second period to make it 3-0. The Wild lost for the second time in two nights after dropping a 5-3 decision to Vancouver on Wednesday. "I dont think anyone can really be happy," Kuemper said. "Weve got to turn this thing around." St. Louis has killed 23 straight power plays against Minnesota over six games. NOTES: Steve Cash and Josh Pauls, members of the USAs gold-medal winning Paralympic hockey team, were honoured before the game. ... Minnesota began a four-game trip that also has stops at Phoenix, Los Angeles and Chicago. ... The Blues are shooting for their first Presidents Trophy since the 1999-2000 season. ... Minnesota LW Dany Heatley has gone a season-high 13 games without a goal. ... Wild RW Jason Pominville led all players with seven shots on goal. Vapormax Plus Pánská . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings (3) - Early goal against was on the power play. Nike Vapormax Levne . Nikolaos Kounenakis has been hired as an assistant coach, the team announced on Monday. http://www.vapormaxlevne.cz/vapormax-flyknit-boty/vapormax-flyknit-damske-sleva.html . Unfortunately for Toronto, that surge was too much to handle as the Stars scored six straight goals and ended the Marlies season with a 6-2 victory on Tuesday. Toronto had built a 2-0 lead on goals by Frazer McLaren and Peter Holland, but Texas charged back with a wild rally late in the second period to spark its trip to the Calder Cup final. Vapormax Plus Bílé .C. -- The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday theyve signed free agent wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery to a two-year contract, helping rebuild a depleted wide receiving corps. Nike Vapormax Cz .Y. - OK, it is done.COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - U.S. figure skating champion Gracie Gold has withdrawn from the Grand Prix Final because of a stress fracture in her left foot.Gold said in a statement Thursday that my ultimate goals for this year are to win another U.S. title and make the podium at worlds. These are the factors that my team and I used to make this very difficult decision.The Grand Prix Final is Dec. 11-14 in Baarcelona.ddddddddddddThe 19-year-old Gold qualified after winning her first Grand Prix Series event, NHK Trophy, last week in Japan.Gold finished fourth at the Sochi Olympics in February.The womens competition at the U.S. Championships starts Jan. 22, and the world championships are in late March.Ashley Wagner will be the only individual American skater to compete at the Grand Prix Final. ' ' '