St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild players crowd around the net near St. Louis goalie Ville Husso (35) in the third period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series, Monday, May 2, 2022, in St. Paul, Minn. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via AP)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — David Perron was quarantined in his basement last year, listening to his kids run around upstairs and watching the St. Louis Blues get swept out of the first round.

The 15-year veteran right wing sure showed his appreciation for being back in the playoffs.

Perron had a hat trick and an assist to lead the Blues past the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Monday night in Game 1 of their first-round series, one year after COVID-19 kept him out of the postseason.

“It’s been a long way coming,” said Perron, who’s on his third stint with St. Louis and posted the 14th three-goal game in franchise history. “I have a lot of pride wearing the Blue note.”

Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist, Torey Krug added three assists and Ville Husso made 37 saves for the shutout in his postseason debut for the Blues, who seized home-ice advantage from a Wild team they’ve had their way with in recent years.

By blocking 17 shots, clogging the passing lanes and dominating on both special teams, the confident Blues quieted Xcel Energy Center quickly with a 2-0 first-period lead and never let the crowd — that the Wild pushed so hard to play in front of to start the postseason — become a factor.

“It’s part of the game and it’s important, but we’ve been a good road team for quite some time here,” Blues coach Craig Berube said.

Particularly on the power play, having led the league with a 29.4% scoring rate in 41 road games this season. Perron scored on each of the first two power plays for the the Blues, who went 6 for 6 on the penalty kill.

That was the greatest source of frustration for the Wild on a night marked by up-close misfires and clanged posts. They had a 55-28 edge on the Blues in shots attempted over the first two periods, but 14 of them went wide of the net.

“Our view from the eye view is that we were pretty good,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We had pretty good opportunities, and we didn’t give much on the other end. That’ll give us a lot of positivity going forward.”

Game 2 is here Wednesday night, before the series shifts south to St. Louis.

Marc-Andre Fleury got the nod in goal for the Wild over All-Star Cam Talbot, who went 13-0-3 in his last 16 starts. Fleury, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner and three-time Stanley Cup champion, was acquired in a trade with Chicago on March 21.

The Wild were insistent there was no bad decision to make and that both goalies would be needed throughout the postseason, but if they don’t get their special teams on track this might be a short run. The Wild set franchise records for wins (53) and points (113) to nudge past the Blues for second place in the Central Division, despite a power play that ranked 18th in the NHL and a penalty kill that was 25th in the league.

Fleury started strong with a pad save on a penalty shot by Ivan Barbashev, but Perron put the Blues on the board less than three minutes later. After Brayden Schenn checked Wild defenseman Matt Dumba to the head and knocked him over, Jordan Greenway was called for roughing to give the Blues their first power play. Perron scored on a rebound, flinging his body forward to land on his knees after his stick connected with the puck just before the extra-skater time expired.

Fleury stopped 27 shots.

Husso was picked over Jordan Binnington, who backstopped the Blues all the way to the Stanley Cup title as a rookie in 2019. For the first game, at least, the inexperience once again didn’t matter in the St. Louis net.

“It’s really nice for a first playoff game,” Husso said. “We were ready right away.”

Perron has plenty of time on ice when the moments are the most tense, with 92 career playoff games coming into the series. None last year, though, because he had to sit out with the virus while the Blues were swept by Colorado.

“The worst part is not being a part of the team, just helping out however you could,” Perron said. “I was literally going crazy.”

Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 0

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist and Jack Campbell made 23 saves in the second playoff shutout of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoffs series.

Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists. Jake Muzzin scored and David Kampf added a goal on a short-handed breakaway for Toronto, which killed off five Lightning power plays, including an early five-minute major.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots for the Lightning.

The second game of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in Toronto.

Kings 4, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Phillip Danault scored at 14:46 of the third period, leading Los Angeles past Edmonton in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round playoff series.

Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo each had a goal and assist for the Kings. Brandon Lemieux also scored.

Connor McDavid and Kailier Yamamoto each had a goal and assist for Edmonton. Leon Draisaitl rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made 35 saves. Mike Smith stopped 31 of 35 shots for Edmonton.

Game 2 is Wednesday in Edmonton. The series shifts to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Friday.

Hurricanes 5, Bruins 1

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Seth Jarvis and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals and Antti Raanta had 35 saves his his playoff debut as Carolina beat Boston in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Jarvis and Niederreiter scored roughly two minutes apart in the second period to break a scoreless tie. Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck added third-period goals. Andrei Svechnikov punctuated the win with an empty-net goal at 17:59,.

Taylor Hall scored for Boston early in the third. Linus Ullmark finished with 20 saves for the Bruins, who have lost all four matchups with Carolina this year by a combined score of 21-2.

Game 2 is Wednesday in Raleigh.