ST. LOUIS — On Saturday, 19 guys in blue — led by 23-year-old Vladimir Tarasenko — ignited a city.

After dropping Game 1 in their first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild, the St. Louis Blues’ mea culpa to fans was a 4-1 win on home ice, which evened the series 1-1. Tarasenko’s personal apology was a three-goal performance, which sent fans’ hats flying onto the ice. He scored two goals in the first period, assisted twice by Alexander Steen and Kevin Shattenkirk, and capped it off with an empty-netter in the third.

"I get to practice with him every day," Blues goaltender Jake Allen said of Tarasenko. "Every time he gets over the blue line, you know there’s a chance of the puck getting in the net. I think opposing goalies probably feel the same way."

The first goal included fantastic traffic in front of the net by Jori Lehtera, battling Wild defenseman Ryan Suter for position, and a wicked shot by Steen at the blue line as Tarasenko swooped in from the faceoff circle and deflected the puck into the net. The second was a power-play shot, again assisted by Steen, that Tarasenko released from an almost impossible angle — close to parallel with Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk on his stick side.

The development of Tarasenko’s skill set over the past eight months has given the Blues a new element to their postseason scoring.

"He’s dynamic," Blues captain David Backes said. "I gotta find out what his summer regimen is, ’cause I’d like to have a little of that."

Tarasenko, who now has three hat tricks this season, admitted he felt bad after the team’s poor performance Thursday.

"When you see this crowd and everybody is so pumped up for the first game and everybody has big expectations for you, especially after last couple years — we can’t lose first game. We felt bad after," Tarasenko said. "We have to play every game like it’s our last game, like it was today."

In that spirit, everyone on the Blues’ roster did a bit of everything Saturday — checking, scoring, even some amateur goaltending. In the third period, a shot from Charlie Coyle bounced off the post, hit Blues netminder Jake Allen in the back and dribbled toward the goal line. Backes reached out his stick and managed to keep the puck from crossing the line.

"I might buy him a beer someday for that one," Allen joked afterward.

HAT TRICK

• Goaltending. It was a spectacular outing for the rookie goaltender, who stopped 24 of 25 shots, including two heart-pounding saves in the second period. One came after Ryan Suter flipped the puck off the glass, and it bounced off goaltender Allen’s left pad, then his right skate, then dribbled under his legs. Allen scrambled frantically to smother the puck and ended up sprawled out in the crease.

"We have some weird glass here," Allen said. "We practice here a lot, so we see a lot of those bounces. And you never know what’s gonna happen."

Later in the second, Mikko Koivu converged on the Blues’ net with forwards T.J. Oshie and Jaden Schwartz trying to defend in front of Allen. Oshie slid across the ice to block a shot, while Schwartz ended up in Allen’s lap. Koivu was the only one who stayed standing and, straddling the red line by the Blues’ crease, sent the puck toward the net on Allen’s glove side. Allen and Schwartz, in a joint effort, managed to knock the puck away.

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"I sort of didn’t want to move ’cause I knew he didn’t really have an angle, so he was trying to go post and in," Allen said. "Schwartzy made a hell of a backcheck to get back there, and we both sort of got a piece of it, and he swatted the puck away. He’s one of the best backcheckers in the league, so credit to him for that."

The only goal Allen gave up was to Marco Scandella at the beginning of the third period. There were several bodies between Scandella and the net, and Allen said afterward he didn’t see the puck — he just heard the thud as it hit the back of the net.

"I didn’t see it," Allen said. "I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if he broke his stick. I don’t know if he fanned on it. He meant to go glove side the whole time."

"I’d like to get that one back for him that squeaked through my legs," Shattenkirk said. "He had no chance, because he couldn’t see it. As D-men, that’s on us to block it."

• Special teams that proved special. The Blues’ power play, after going 0 for two against Minnesota on Thursday, finished one for three. Last year, their power play was only 6.9 percent in six postseason games. Since 2012, however, the Blues were 5-3 in the playoffs with a power-play goal going into Saturday’s game. The Blues also killed off their only penalty of the game Saturday, an interference call on Zbynek Michalek in the second period.

• Hitting it big. The Blues hesitated to use their size Thursday against the Wild and paid the price by dropping their first game of the series. They fixed that problem Saturday, and the Wild responded in kind. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock chose to have Ryan Reaves, who plays a tough, physical checking role on the fourth line, on the ice for the opening faceoff with top-liners Backes and Oshie. By the first period, both teams had over half their hit totals in what took 60 minutes of play Thursday. Each finished Saturday’s game with 36 hits, Backes leading both teams with seven.

You can follow Elisabeth Meinecke on Twitter at @lismeinecke or email her at ecmeinecke@gmail.com.