ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Magnus Paajarvi could hardly have picked a better time for his first career playoff goal.

Paajarvi's overtime winner and another superlative performance by goaltender Jake Allen spurred the St. Louis Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and into the second round of the playoffs.

Paajarvi, who spent long stretches of the regular season in the minors and scored eight goals in 32 games with the Blues, beat Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk with a wrist shot from the top of the crease at 9:42 of overtime for the Blues, who saw a 3-1 lead slip away in the late stages of the third period only to find a way to win in the extra session.

"I'm proud of it, but I'm not satisfied," Paajarvi said. "Got to play a better game. Jake kept us in a lot of games."

Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen scored first-period goals and Allen had 34 saves as the Blues got their third road victory of the playoffs to win the series 4-1. Paul Stastny, back in the lineup after missing a month with a foot injury, scored in the third period for the Blues.

"Really happy to finish it tonight," said Blues coach Mike Yeo, who was fired by the Wild 14 months earlier. He tipped his cap to his former employer. "I know it's tough that they didn't get the win, but they gave us more than anything we could handle. ... Their team did a great job and they showed a lot of character."

St. Louis will open the Western Conference semifinals at home versus the Nashville Predators.

Ryan Suter, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker scored for Minnesota, which had its best regular season in franchise history, but managed just eight goals in five playoff games.

"I don't know if shocked is the right word. The word disappointed is probably a better word," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I think you could look back at all five games, and it was something like that happening where you think you're going to pull it out, get the tie, get the win, and it didn't happen."

The Wild got 24 saves from Dubnyk and fell to 1-7 in their last eight home playoff games.

"It's tough to process right now," Suter said, after his team outshot and outplayed the Blues for much of the series but managed just one win. "Obviously extremely, extremely disappointing, to play the way that we played, I felt like we deserved better. But obviously, the results weren't there. It's a game of results."

After a slow start in Game 4, the Blues sprinted from the gate. By the time Tarasenko made it 1-0 with his first goal of the playoffs, they had an 8-1 advantage in shots and made Dubnyk work hard early.

Tarasenko lost the puck on the way to the net but got it back after it bounced off a Wild defender and sent a low shot that eluded Dubnyk on the stick side.

Barely three minutes later, Steen doubled St. Louis' lead, taking advantage of a Wild turnover and snapping a wrist shot over Dubnyk's right shoulder from the top of the left circle. It was the second goal of the playoffs for Steen.

"Our start was really good. Game 4 was just not the way we could afford to start and give them that life," Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "That was the focus, I think. Just get off to a good start and let the game kind of happen after that. It's the story of the series, really."

Minnesota answered before the end of the first on a power play when Suter's blast from the top of the left circle beat Allen on the stick side.

With the teams skating 4-on-4 in the second period, Eric Staal made a rush to the net and was stopped by Allen. With his momentum carrying him past the net, Staal was tripped up by Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and went headfirst into the end boards.

After a lengthy delay, Staal was helped from the ice and went right to the locker room. He was taken to a St. Paul hospital for observation.

"I think we were obviously relieved that he was able to get up and when you see that you know it's usually nothing serious, so I think it was easier to get on after that," Koivu said. "But, for sure, it was a scary play and when a guy goes down like that you get scared there for a bit and you get down but, like I said, it was a relief seeing that he was able to get up and into the room on his own."

Stastny's goal came in the third period with Minnesota pressuring to tie. He got two cracks at the puck from the side of the net and popped his second shot off Dubnyk's side and in for a 3-1 lead.

On the ensuing possession, a Wild shot from behind the net by Martin Hanzal deflected off forward Nino Niederreiter and into the net just as Niederreiter was pushed into Allen by Blues forward Jori Lehtera.

The Wild challenged the initial call of no goal because of goalie interference, but it was upheld after a lengthy review.

"They did a really good job the whole series, I thought, throwing bodies to the net," Allen said. "That's the way they play and that's how they had their success all year. I thought we did a fairly decent job of defending it, not necessarily taking guy out but lifting sticks and taking away passing lanes."

But the Blues took a penalty for holding and Koivu scored a power-play goal with an assist from Niederreiter to pull Minnesota back within a goal. Zucker knotted the score 3-3 with 5:01 to play by outskating a defender and beating Allen low with a stick move.

"It's tough to handle really. None of us expected this," Wild left winger Zach Parise said. "It's going to be a long offseason for sure. We tried to get our way back into the series but when you're down three-nothing in the series, you're really asking a lot. Not that we quit, we never quit, we tried, we played hard all the way until the end but, like I said, right now it's just a disappointing group of players."

NOTES: Wild captain Mikko Koivu has been named one of three finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given annually to the NHL's top defensive forward. ... On Saturday morning, the Blues recalled rookie D Jordan Schmaltz from their AHL affiliate in Chicago. Schmaltz played for St. Louis in Game 1 of the Minnesota playoff series before being sent down. He played in nine regular-season games for the Blues this season but was not in the lineup for Game 5. ... The Wild honored University of Minnesota Duluth coach Scott Sandelin before the game. The coach received a standing ovation from fans after leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA championship game two weeks ago. They fell to Denver 3-2 in the finale in Chicago. ... Minnesota has had home ice for three playoff series in franchise history and lost all three series.