Thursday, 24 November 2016

NHL - Wild - Round Up November 05-13, 2016

Wild @ Colorado Avalanche 0-1 - Saturday, November 05, 2016


Calvin Pickard made 32 saves for the Colorado Avalanche in a 1-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Pepsi Center. Pickard's second NHL shutout helped the Avalanche (5-5-0) end a two-game losing streak; they lost four of their previous five games. Gabriel Landeskog scored a power-play goal at 10:23 of the third.
He skated down the slot to convert Matt Duchene's pass from the right side of the crease, beating Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk for his first goal in eight games (third of the season). Rookie Mikko Rantanen had the second assist for his first NHL point in 14 games. The goal was the first for the Avalanche in 164:48, since Jarome Iginla scored at 5:35 of the first period of a 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Colorado lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Thursday. Minnesota forward Charlie Coyle scored with 48.9 seconds left, but the goal was immediately waved off because Wild forward Eric Staal pushed Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson into Pickard. The call was confirmed after video replay. The Avalanche were in an 0-for-10 power-play slump covering three games when Landeskog skated down the slot to convert Duchene's pass.
* The Wild (6-4-1) were on a power play at 4:59 of the second period when Suter took a shot that Pickard stopped. Wild forwards Jason Zucker and Coyle converged on the puck and took whacks at it, but Pickard was able to cover it.


"It's a tough call. It's one of those where the goalie was out of position, he was way out in the white of the ice. I was just in front battling with [Johnson], not paying attention to where he was. One of the situations where he was pulling me into the battle, pulling me with him on top of the goalie and I was trying to get out of the way. They gave them the benefit of the doubt on it." said Staal.


Wild @ Philadelphia Flyers 2-3 - Saturday, November 12, 2016


The Philadelphia Flyers have been waiting for one of their goaltenders to make a big save in a big moment, and Steve Mason did just that in the final seconds of their 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Wells Fargo Center. The Wild were pushing for the tying goal when Eric Staal got the puck at the bottom of the right faceoff circle and had an open net. But Mason leapt across and got his left pad on the low shot with 7.7 seconds remaining in the third period. Mason made 19 saves on 20 shots after replacing injured starter Michal Neuvirth to begin the second period. Neuvirth made six saves in the first period but did not come out for the second. The Flyers did not reveal the nature of the injury but said he would be re-evaluated Sunday. Brayden Schenn's power-play goal at 8:43 of the third period was the game-winner, and Jakub Voracek and Michael Del Zotto scored to help the Flyers (7-7-2) end a three-game losing streak (0-2-1).
Philadelphia, which lost 6-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Friday, is 4-0-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets but 2-3-0 in the first.
Schenn scored the winner after a spectacular through-the-legs pass by Simmonds. Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund scored for Minnesota (7-5-1), and goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 33 saves. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau was disappointed at the effort Saturday after what he felt was their best game of the season in a 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. The Wild took a 1-0 lead 21 seconds into the game on Niederreiter's goal off a Flyers defensive-zone giveaway. Voracek redirected defenseman Brandon Manning's point shot through traffic to make it 1-1 at 12:27 of the first. Granlund put the Wild ahead 2-1. Mikko Koivu made a great move in the slot to get around Del Zotto, but his backhand went off the crossbar. Granlund scored on the rebound. Del Zotto got the goal back when he finished a give-and-go with Michael Raffl at 17:45 of the second.
* Niederreiter found just enough space between Neuvirth's shoulder and the crossbar on the short side 21 seconds into the first period.
"Tonight, we'd go in [on the forecheck], and we'd be one and done because there's only one guy going. If you're not tenacious enough, bad things happen."
"If Eric [Staal] gets the puck up, it's in the net. Give [Flyers goalie Steve] Mason credit for that, was a great save coming across." Boudreau said.



Wild @ Ottawa Senators 2-1 OT - Sunday, November 13, 2016
Matt Dumba scored 3:57 into overtime to help the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. After Wild forward Mikael Granlund skated the puck down through the slot from the blue line, he passed the puck in front of the net and Dumba dove to knock it by Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson and into the net. Ryan Suter scored a shorthanded goal for the Wild (8-5-1) and goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who started his third game of the season, made 35 saves. Kyle Turris scored and Craig Anderson made 40 saves for the Senators (9-5-1), who failed to win their third straight.
The Wild finished with a split of their four-game road trip, which saw them play their past three games in four nights. The game was a good bounce back for Kuemper, who gave up five goals on 32 shots in a loss to the New York Islanders in his previous start on Oct. 23. Turris tied the game 1-1 at 5:06 of the third period. The Senators had the first four power plays of the game, but their struggles with the man-advantage continued. They went 0-for-4 on Sunday and are 1-for-26 on the in the past 11 games.


* Suter scored the Wild's second shorthanded goal of the season at 8:36 of the first period to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Wild forward Eric Staal cut towards the net and got a shot on Anderson with the rebound going back out into the slot. Suter was unchecked and scored his fourth goal of the season.


"It's nice. Looking at the schedule going forward, it's going to pick up. We have a lot more games. It looks like I'm going to be getting more starts more regularly, so it's nice to get one like this under my belt so I can be confident next time my number is called."
"He was really good. I'm really happy for him. He hadn't played in a while and in the last game he would admit he wasn't as sharp as he'd like to be, but this gets him back into the fray, especially when we're playing 10 games in 17 days." Kuemper said.


"I love it [3-on-3 format in overtime]. It's what you dream of when you're a little kid. Tonight, I seized the opportunity. Just lucky it came to me and I saw it there and it just rolled in. It hit something and it threw me off. I just got a piece of it. It seemed like forever me watching it going into the net." Dumba said.


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