st put it in play. I said `Hes going to get extra bases, theres no doubt about it, Hale said. Hes just a machine right now.Thats

ST. LOUIS -- Nail Yakupov and Magnus Paajarvi are reunited and it feels so good.Yakupov had a goal and an assist and Jake Allen made several big saves as the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Thursday night.Alexander Steen and Paajarvi also scored for St. Louis. Patrik Berglund had two assists and Allen made 18 saves for the Blues, who have won four of their past five home openers.Ryan Suter and Charlie Coyle scored for the Wild, who were 4-0-1 in their previous five season openers.St. Louis acquired Yakupov, a former first overall draft pick by Edmonton in 2012, from the Oilers in a trade on Oct. 7. Placed on a line with Paajarvi, whom he played with in Edmonton, and Berglund, they totaled five points against the Wild.I was nervous a little bit, the first time to play in this building with a new team, it does add a little pressure, Yakupov said. But I think we did pretty good as a line, had a good couple of shifts and got our legs going.Yakupov put the Blues ahead 2-1 on his first career slap shot goal at 12:36 of the second. The shot went off Devan Dubnyks glove and floated over his shoulder into the net.Hes got a great wrister, but obviously the slapper was a good one today, Paajarvi said. Hes quick and his shot is quick.Dubnyk didnt see the shot off the blade.It was right at my ear so I caught a pretty good piece of it and anytime you get a piece of something you would like to have a little bit more of it, Dubnyk said. I was happy with where I was on the play and next time Ill catch it.Yakupov found Paajarvi as the last man on a 3-on-2 rush to give the Blues a 3-1 lead early in the third.I had a decision where Im going to shoot or I have to find a seam, Yakupov said. I think I made a really good decision to pass to Maggy. Sometimes you have to take risks to make a new step.Steens goal came off an unintended assist by Robby Fabbri, who had lost control of the puck while making a move to the net. Steen snapped the loose puck past Dubnyk to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.The Blues outshot the Wild 14-2 in the first period, but Allen came up big on the Wilds first shot of the game making a pad save on a short-handed partial break by Jason Zucker just over eight minutes into the game.Some moments where I didnt have shots for 10 minutes and then I get a break away, but thats my job to be ready when they come after me, said Allen, who was playing in his first home opener.Suter drew the Wild even three minutes into the second period. A turnover by Kevin Shattenkirk allowed Suter to break in and after Allen made the initial save he was able to bury the rebound.Allen kept the game even robbing Eric Staal on a breakaway seven minutes into the second period. Allen came up big five minutes later when Staal found Zach Parise alone in the slot on a 2-on-1.Dubnyk had 28 saves.Game notes Blues F Jaden Schwartz (elbow) missed his second game. ... Blues associate coach Mike Yeo went 173-132-44 as the Wilds head coach from 2011 until last February. ... Blues assistant coach Rick Wilson was an assistant with Minnesota from 2010 through the end of last season. ... Wild assistant coach Scott Stevens played for the Blues in the 1990-91 season. ... The Blues are celebrating their 50th season and five members of their inaugural team -- Fred Hucul, Bill McCreary, Norm Beaudin, Larry Keenan and Bob Plager -- took part in the pregame ceremony.UP NEXT:Wild: Have their home opener against Winnipeg on Saturday at 6 p.m.Blues: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday at 7 p.m. Discount Ray Ban . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Cheap RB From China .com) - Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer were easy first-round winners Tuesday at the Australian Open. http://www.salerayban.com/ . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Cheap Ray Ban Aviator Sunglasses . The head of USA Boxing came out swinging Tuesday with an open letter to Tyson -- a former Olympic hopeful himself -- that accuses the former heavyweight champion of trying to poach fighters who might be candidates for the U. Ray Ban China . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks showed a bit of resiliency -- against their opponent and the atmosphere inside Chase Field.Rickie Weeks Jr. hit a three-run homer, Paul Goldschmidt had two RBI and the Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 7-5 on Tuesday night in front of 14,110 fans, the smallest crowd in Chase Fields 18-year history.We appreciate the people who were here. I thought we played well, Arizona manager Chip Hale said. The guys didnt let down because it wasnt a big crowd with a lot of emotion. They created their own emotion in the dugout. Thats baseball.Weeks got them started, hitting a three-run homer off Christian Friedrich (4-4). Goldschmidt had an RBI single and a sacrifice fly after being named to his fourth straight NL All-Star team.Jean Segura sparked Arizonas lineup from the leadoff spot, finishing with three hits, three runs and an RBI.Zack Godley (2-0) worked around trouble through five innings and so did Brad Ziegler in the ninth, giving up a leadoff homer to Brad Schimpf and two more hits before striking out Matt Kemp to close out his 18th save.The Diamondbacks had three triples to match a team record and twice scored in the bottom half of an inning after San Diego scored in the top half to win for the second time in 10 games.We need to get all the wins we can get, Weeks said. For us to win like we did tonight is great.San Diegos Wil Myers had a run-scoring triple among his four hits and drove in a run after being named to his first NL All-Star team before the game. The Padres out-hit Arizona 12-10, but stranded seven runners and couldnt overcome Friedrichs shaky start.Its kind of what its been like the last few times out, Padres manager Andy Green said. He has some crisp innings and then gets into trouble. He misses some pitches and they take advantage of that.Godley made one start and five relief appearances during his first stint with the Diamondbacks and was called up from Triple-A Reno to start against the Padres.The right-hander caused himself some problems when he started the third inning by walking Friedrich. Myers drove him in with a run-scoring triple and later scored on Yangervis Solartes run-scoring single that put the Padres up 2-0.Godley ran into more trouble in the fifth, when Kemp and Alex Dickerson hit run-scoring doubles to tie the game at 4.ddddddddddddGodley allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings. He was sent back to Reno after the game and left-hander Zac Curtis was recalled.A lot of mis-hit balls off him, Hale said. His ball moves a lot. If he can get that with the location, down in the zone a little more, hes going to be something.Friedrich entered Tuesdays game 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 15 career appearances against Arizona.The left-hander did not have the same effectiveness this time, allowing one more run (4) in the third inning than he had the previous 25 combined. Goldschmidt drove in the first with a run-scoring single and Weeks followed with his three-run homer to center.It was the worst pitch at the wrong time, said Friedrich, who gave up five runs, six hits and struck out five in five innings.LAMB ROARINGJake Lamb entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and fell behind in the count. Players in Arizonas bench said he should take a protective swing with two strikes.Hale knew better and Lamb proved him right, hitting a triple to the corner in right before scoring on Seguras RBI single.They said it when he got two strikes, just put it in play. I said `Hes going to get extra bases, theres no doubt about it, Hale said. Hes just a machine right now.Thats for sure. Lamb has an extra-base hit in seven straight games, longest by an Arizona player since Goldschmidt did it in eight straight games from July 2-9, 2009. Lamb has seven triples to match the team record before the All-Star Break, previously set three times.TRAINING ROOMPadres: RHP Tyson Ross (shoulder) is expected to throw his final extended bullpen on Wednesday.Diamondbacks: CF A.J. Pollock started some light throwing with a tennis ball this week, his first baseball-related activity since breaking his right elbow on April 2.UP NEXTPadres: RHP Colin Rea has received 6.61 runs of support per game heading into Wednesdays series finale against Arizona.Diamondbacks: RHP Shelby Miller is 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA in six career games against San Diego. ' ' '