NHL - Wild - Round Up - January 07-12, 2017

Wild @ Los Angeles Kings 3-4 OT - Saturday, January 07, 2017
Tanner Pearson scored with 1:28 left in overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Staples Center. Pearson tipped in Martinez's feed from the side boards for his 11th goal. The Kings are 8-1 in overtime this season. Minnesota tied it 3-3 with 43 seconds left in the third period on a power-play goal by Zach Parise. Mikael Granlund drew a tripping penalty on Drew Doughty with 1:17 left, and goalie Darcy Kuemper was pulled to give the Wild a two-man advantage. Mikko Koivu fed Parise from down low and he scored on his rebound. Koivu and Charlie Coyle scored for Minnesota (24-9-5), which lost for the second time in 15 games. Kuemper made 32 saves.

Carter had a goal and two assists, and Jake Muzzin and Marian Gaborik scored for Los Angeles (20-16-4). Peter Budaj made 21 saves. Koivu made it 1-0 at 3:12 of the first period when he picked up an errant pass in the neutral zone, came down to the top of the left circle and shot through Budaj's legs. Coyle made it 2-0 at 7:27 when he caught a rebound and went five-hole on Budaj.
Carter scored his Kings-leading 22nd goal at 7:39 of the second period to make it 2-1. Gaborik was credited with a goal that banked in off the face of Wild defenseman Ryan Suter to tie at 2-2 at 11:13. It was Gaborik's second goal in 18 games this season. Muzzin scored on the power play 54 seconds into the third to give the Kings a 3-2 lead.

* Martinez took a cross-ice feed from Kopitar and found Pearson waiting in front of the crease for the overtime winner.

* With an extra attacker and trailing 3-2 with 1:19 left in the third period, Wild forward Nino Niederreiter shot from the high slot. Despite heavy traffic in front, Budaj managed to save it.

* Pearson screened Kuemper, taking his eyes away from the developing play that Muzzin finished for a tiebreaking goal.

* Koivu made it look easy when he skated untouched to the circle, and his snap shot went quickly through Budaj's legs.
* The Wild clinched the best winning percentage in the Central Division through Jan. 10, which makes Boudreau a coach in the NHL All-Star Game. … Minnesota plays the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, Boudreau's first game against his former team. … Doughty got his 251st NHL assist, surpassing Mark Hardy for second among Kings defensemen (Rob Blake has 333). … Dustin Brown played in his 922nd NHL game (all with Los Angeles), surpassing Marcel Dionne for third on the Kings list (Dave Taylor, 1,111; Luc Robitaille, 1,077).

"When they got the lead in the last five or six minutes, when it was a desperate time, we went after them again. It's not consistent and that's what we have to do." Bruce Boudreau said.
"The puck was bouncing on the wall a lot, and that's where they are probably one of the better teams around the League is on the wall. If you are not getting those pucks against these guys, it makes for a long night. After they got that first one, it felt like we had a lot of trouble getting anything clean or forechecking hard. We couldn't get much going." Zach Parise

Wild @ Anaheim Sucks 2-1 - Sunday, January 08, 2017
Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves, and defensemen Matt Dumba and Jared Spurgeon scored 1:41 apart in the second period to help the Minnesota Wild defeat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 at Honda Center. It was Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau's first game in Anaheim since the Ducks fired him April 29. Boudreau, who turns 62 on Monday, said he enjoyed coming back to Southern California and reconnecting with old friends. Though Boudreau said he never mentioned anything about facing his former team to the Wild, the consensus from the players was that they understood the importance of winning for their coach. The Wild (25-9-5) have won 14 of their past 16 games. They are 2-1-1 after a 12-game winning streak, the longest in their history. Ryan Kesler scored for Anaheim (21-13-8), which lost for the first time in four games. John Gibson made 34 saves. Kesler made it 1-0 at 11:44 of the first period when he scored on a rebound. It was his 16th goal of the season, fourth in four games.

Dumba scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 4:39 of the second period to tie the game 1-1, and Spurgeon put the Wild ahead 2-1 at 6:21. Nino Niederreiter appeared to score a goal at 1:26 of the third period, but video review confirmed the ruling of the four on-ice officials that Niederreiter used a distinct kicking motion to put the puck in the net. Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury.

* Wild forward Jason Pominville, skating left to right above the faceoff circles, dropped the puck to Spurgeon on the move at the left point, and Spurgeon beat Gibson with a hard wrist shot through traffic from the top of the left circle.

* Cogliano shot toward an open net while falling to the ice after Chris Wagner's backhand pass from behind the net hit off Dumba's skate, but Dubnyk sprawled out to make the save at 9:48 of the second period.

* Defenseman Sami Vatanen had seven of 21 blocked shots for the Ducks.

* Dumba beat Gibson inside the left post with a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle off a pass from Wild forward Zach Parise.
* Minnesota is 10-5-1 when the opponent scores first. They were 5-25-6 when opponents scored first last season. … The Wild extended their road point streak to 10 games (8-0-2), the second-longest in their history. … Anaheim hasn't scored a power-play goal in five games and is 3-for-27 in the past nine games.

"I love it, When you win, it's easy to face the questions (about being back). I saw an awful lot of people that I knew and treated me really well when I was here. It was a good birthday present."
"I don't want to get fired anymore. I don't want to keep getting that experience." Boudreau said.
"He's candid and he's emotional, he's a human being, and you can tell this game meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to us as well. It was nice to get this one for him." Dubnyk said.

Montreal Canadiens @ Wild 1-7 - Thursday, January 12, 2017

The Minnesota Wild scored seven goals on Carey Price in a 7-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Xcel Energy Center. Price made 17 saves for Montreal (26-11-6) but allowed seven goals in a game for the fifth time, the first since March 2, 2013 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nino Niederreiter scored twice for the Wild (26-9-5), who are 15-1-1 in their past 17 games and are 9-1-0 at home in their past 10. Tomas Plekanec ended Devan Dubnyk's shutout with nine seconds left in the third period. Dubnyk made 20 saves and is 13-1-0 with 27 goals allowed in his past 14 starts. Christian Folin scored his first goal of the season at 2:34 of the first period to make it 1-0. The Wild scored three goals in the second period, two 39 seconds apart: by Staal at 6:35 to make it 2-0, and by Jordan Schroeder, who dove to deflect a Jared Spurgeon shot at 7:14. Staal has eight points (three goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak, and 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his past 14 games, including a point in 13 of those 14. Niederreiter scored the fourth goal for Minnesota at 17:58. Price started the third period after allowing four goals on 14 shots in the first two. Montreal, with Al Montoya in goal, defeated the Winnipeg Jets 7-4 on Wednesday. Jason Zucker redirected a shot by Spurgeon on the power play at 3:31 of the third period to make it 5-0. Ryan Suter scored a power-play goal at 6:06, and Niederreiter scored his second at 14:26.

* Folin calmed a bouncing puck and switched to his backhand for his third goal in 96 NHL games.

* "I don't score too often, so I try to be a little fired up," the 25-year-old said. "I remember it was like two years ago and I scored against [the Washington Capitals] back here, I was fired up too. It's fun scoring goals. You've got to get a little fired up. It's tough to score in this league."

* Dubnyk sprawled to stop Daniel Carr at 10:51 of the third period.
* Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba picked up a loose puck and started the rush into the offensive zone to earn the second assist on Staal's goal. Dumba had three assists.
* Staal put a wrist shot past Price for his Wild-leading 14th goal of the season.

* Price allowed an NHL-career high eight goals to the Boston Bruins on Feb. 9, 2011. … Wild forward Mikko Koivu has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past eight games. … Zucker has nine points (four goals, five assists) in nine games.

Wild Quotes

"Everybody has nights that aren't their best, and I think as the game got going, we got going and they looked a little more tired. A goalie can only do so much. It's still a good thing to feel good about scoring on him, because it doesn't happen very often." Eric Staal said.
"Anytime there's a decimal point on the clock, it stings a little more. Obviously wins are tough to get in this League and you've got to enjoy them. Shutouts are a bonus. Not going to lose any sleep over [it] tonight. That's about as good a game as you get, I think. I was happy I was on my end. I felt like every shot we got was a scoring chance down there. Guys were more than solid for me in my end and allowed me to feel comfortable all game." Dubnyk said.

"Whatever it is [we're doing] I'd like that to continue because we're not going to score seven goals in this league every night. We have good balance where different guys are scoring all the time, which is a positive thing." Bruce Boudreau said.