ST. PAUL, MINN. • Early in Saturday’s third period, more than a quarter of the players who were dressed for a game between the Blues and Minnesota Wild were in the penalty box. A game that was scoreless for 31½ minutes and turned in the Wild’s favor became chippy.

The Blues, who had six players in the box to Minnesota’s five, may have settled some personal scores, but they never evened the score that mattered, falling 2-1 at Xcel Energy Center.

The club came close, pulling to within one goal on Jamie Langenbrunner’s first goal as a Blues player with 2 minutes, 2 seconds left in regulation. But on a night that included one of the team’s distinguishable lulls, even a second consecutive solid outing from goaltender Jaroslav Halak couldn’t save the team from a loss.

“We got away from it for a little bit,” Langenbrunner said. “We pushed till the end, but we got away from our game there, start chasing and giving them chances. Jaro came up huge numerous time to give us a chance there at the end. But for whatever reason, we’re falling off our game for 10- to 15-minute spans, and it’s costing us.”

As they head home for the start of a five-game homestand Tuesday, the Blues are now 6-7 this season, with two wins in their last five games and both of those came against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Blues had 31 shots on goal Saturday against Minnesota, finally scoring on their 29th shot, but they were playing from behind after giving up two breakaway goals to the Wild. One came after a bad bounce for the Blues and another after a fluky yet costly mistake.

The play was even through the first 30 minutes, before Minnesota’s Dany Heatley broke open the scoring. With the teams skating 4 on 4, the Blues entered the offensive zone and Jason Arnott took a hefty shot. But the puck hit Wild defenseman Nate Prosser and went the other way.

Mikko Koivu and Heatley had a 2-on-1, with Blues defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo defending, and Heatley took the shot. Halak got a big chunk of the shot, but it slid by him for a 1-0 lead with 8 minutes, 21 seconds left in the second period.

“We had a rush opportunity, but on tired legs, we get a shot blocked and it comes back and hurts us,” Blues coach Davis Payne said. “From there, we’ve just got to make sure we stick to our game and not get off track.”

The Blues’ power play unit had a chance to tie the score midway through the frame and in fact enjoyed a 14-second 5-on-3 advantage, but a point shot from Arnott at the end of the two-man advantage was gloved by Wild goalie Josh Harding.

Veteran center Scott Nichol pumped up the Blues Friday night with a fight and he tried to do the same Saturday. With the team still trailing 1-0, Nichol engaged in his second fight in as many nights, taking on Minnesota’s Darroll Powe. But this time, Nichol’s energy had little effect on a team that seemed inspirationally challenged until late in the game.

About a minute after the fight, a turnover by Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead with 1:18 left in the second period.

Heatley flipped the puck into the offensive zone for the Wild. Skating backward, Pietrangelo gloved the rubber, dropped it to the ice and tried to pass it away. But Guillaume Latendresse denied the pass, setting up his own breakaway, on which he lifted a backhanded shot into the top corner.

“(Pietrangelo) is a good hockey player, and he knows that he’s got a puck on his stick, and we trust him with that puck on his stick,” Payne said. “It happens.”

The third period began with David Backes crosschecking Latendresse three seconds after the puck was dropped. At that point, the Blues’ penalty box was housing Backes, Nichol, Langenbrunner, Arnot, Roman Polak and Ryan Reaves, who was serving the extra minor.

The Blues finally got out of the box, but it was Halak who kept them in the game, making two terrific saves in the first seven minutes of the third period to keep it a two-goal deficit.

“All season, there have just been lapses where we’ve fallen off and it’s hurt us,” Blues forward Matt D’Agostini said. “We had a couple of shifts, our line especially, where we couldn’t get it going. We were hemmed in our end. Those are going to happen. But you have to take away the scoring chances. We gave them one too many chances. Jaro played great for us tonight. We just didn’t give him enough.”