ST. LOUIS - After scoring a combined five goals in their previous five games, St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock kept insisting it was just a matter of time before the goals started to come.

It turned out that time was Saturday night.

The Blues erupted for four goals, the first time they had scored more than twice in a game since Jan. 18, en route to a 4-1 win over the slumping Minnesota Wild.

Three of the goals came on the power play after the Blues had failed to score in their previous 24 chances with a man advantage. It was the first time this season they scored more than two power play goals in a game.

Three of the goals, including two on the power play, came in the second period as the Blues sent the Wild to their fifth loss in a row and dropped their record to 1-9-1 in their last 11 games.

Center Paul Stastny scored one goal and set up right winger Vladimir Tarasenko for the first goal of the game, his 26th of the season but only his second in his last 12 games.

"You could almost hear the collective sigh on the bench (after Tarasenko's goal)," said assistant coach Brad Shaw, who spoke to the media instead of Hitchcock after the game.

Stastny's goal came immediately after goalie Brian Elliott made a big save on left winger Nino Niederreiter, turning it into a 3-0 game instead of only a 2-1 advantage.

"Both of those (goals) were key moments in the game," Shaw said. "He got stymied by Ells and we go down 10, 15 seconds later and get a hard working goal to go up 3-0."

Statsny felt that way as well.

"The momentum kind of swung on that play," Stastny said. "Everyone notices it especially when they are a team that's struggling right now and we're a team struggling to score. That makes it a three-goal game instead of a one-goal game. It really changes the way both teams look at the way the game was going."

That was one of 38 saves Elliott made, allowing only a power-play goal by defenseman Matt Dumba with 1:46 to in the second period, when the Wild fired 24 shots at Elliott. That was the most shots in a period against the Blues since Oct. 29, 2003.

The other power-play goals came from center Jorl Lehtera, when a rebound deflected off his ankle past goalie Devan Dubnyk, and from right winger Troy Brouwer early in the third period.

"The execution was a lot sharper. I thought we were a lot more direct in our game," Shaw said. "We were way more decisive, way more in sync. We played a smarter, more offensive game."

As frustrated as the Blues have been by their recent scoring slump, the Wild have been even more frustrated by their overall performance, winning just once since Jan. 9.

"I'd love to sit here and tell you we'll forget about it and move on and I know we really don't have a choice but it becomes tougher each time," Dubnyk said. "I thought we played a pretty good game today but it's just the way it's going. We're going to have to work our way out of this.

"There's no hiding from it. We've got a lot of games coming up against a lot of good teams and it's not going to get better unless it's going to be us as a group in here that's going to make it better. Is it frustrating? Yes, it's tough to sleep at night, it's hard to let it go on days off, but this is the situation. It happens sometimes during years and you just got to stay working and find a way out of it."

Wild coach Mike Yeo thought the game was a step in the right direction even though it was another loss.

"More often than not you end up playing a game like that and you come out on the short side, and if we recognize that and see what we put into the game tonight, and bring that back home with us, then I think that we'll have a chance to get this turned around," Yeo said.

"It's nice to score goals and we need to win hockey games, but when you put the right effort and you put the right attitude into the game then you bring something that you can take some pride out of. That's something that you can build off of and that's what we need to do right now."

NOTES: Wild D Jonas Brodin is expected to miss three to six weeks because of a broken foot sustained in Thursday night's game. ... The Wild recalled C Tyler Graovac from Iowa of the AHL. ... Trying to shake up their lineup, the Wild scratched LW Jason Zucker and LW Thomas Vanek, each missing his first game of the season. ... After initially thinking LW Jaden Schwartz might play for the first time since Oct. 20 for the Blues (broken ankle), he remained out of the lineup. ... Blues RW Ryan Reaves was a healthy scratch for the fourth consecutive game. ... The Wild will host Dallas on Tuesday night while the Blues will stay at home to play Winnipeg.