The temperature may have been freezing cold, but the St. Louis Blues offense was scalding hot at the 2022 Winter Classic.
The Blues registered five goals in the second period en route to a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Wild. Center Jordan Kyrou led the way with a four-point performance in which he scored two goals and dished out two assists.
It marked the first time in NHL history that a player recorded a four-point outing in an outdoor game. Both of Kyrou's goals came in the second period in which the St. Louis offense wreaked havoc.
Just 27 seconds into the frame, Kyrou got credit for a goal when he was attempting to hit teammate Vladimir Tarasenko on a centering pass. When Tarasenko was cutting in front of the net, the puck went off of Wild forward Ryan Hartman and Kyrou's tally gave the Blues a 2-1 advantage.
With 2:02 remaining in the second period, Kyrou found himself with the puck in the offensive zone. He controlled the puck in the face-off circle, waited for Wild forward Mats Zuccarello to make his move, and snapped his shot past Cam Talbot to give St. Louis a 5-1 lead.
Blues star winger Vladimir Tarasenko also got into the scoring column in Saturday's Winter Classic. At the 8:55 mark of the period, Tarasenko let a one-timer rip off a beautiful pass from Kyrou and beat Talbot. It marked the fifth consecutive game in which Tarasenko scored a goal, which is the longest goal-scoring streak of his NHL career.
Despite the Wild scoring twice in the third period, the Blues were still the more aggressive team from the opening face-off as they peppered Talbot with shots early and often. Following the Blues' sixth and final goal, Talbot was pulled from the game.
It was the second consecutive game in which Talbot gave up six goals. Talbot also surrendered six goals against the Dallas Stars on Dec. 20 prior to the league's brief COVID-19 pause.
The players didn't seem to be off of their game despite the coldest temperatures that the NHL has ever seen. At puck drop, the temperature was -8 degrees, which marks the coldest temperature for an outdoor NHL game. The second-lowest came at the 2003 Heritage Classic between the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens when it was 0 degrees at the opening face-off.