NHL - Wild - Round Up - January 17-22, 2017

New Jersey @ Wild 4-3 - Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Beau Bennett scored with 2:17 left in the third period to give the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. New Jersey (19-18-9) won the final three games of a four-game road trip (3-0-1). Cory Schneider made 32 saves. Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves for Minnesota (28-10-5), which had won four in a row. He was 14-1-0 in his previous 15 starts, allowing 29 goals. Jared Spurgeon scored 30 seconds into a power play at 17:58 of the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. It was his fifth goal in the past 12 games, and Minnesota's power play has scored in 11 of the past 14 games.

Jason Zucker increased the lead to 2-0 at 9:24 of the second period. Pavel Zacha made it 2-1 on the power play at 13:19 with a snap shot off a feed by Kyle Palmieri. Taylor Hall led Adam Henrique on a break for a top-shelf goal to tie the game 2-2 at 5:23 of the third period. The assist extended Hall's point streak to four games (one goal, three assists). Erik Haula gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead at 9:08, but New Jersey answered with a goal by Palmieri 22 seconds later.

* Devils forward Blake Coleman worked the puck out from behind the net to find Bennett breaking in off the bench. The assist was Coleman's first NHL point in his fourth game.

"It was huge getting the confidence to be out there late in the game," Bennett said. "Obviously [Coleman] made a great play, taking on a few of their defensemen, holding on to it, waiting for me to come off the bench and made a great pass, and I'm happy for him to get his first NHL point in a critical time."

* Schneider stopped Wild forward Nino Niederreiter in close at 5:14 of the first period.

* New Jersey forward Travis Zajac won the faceoff against Minnesota center Eric Staal at 9:22 of the third period to set up the tying goal. Zajac won 57 percent his faceoffs.

* After drawing a roughing penalty on New Jersey forward Devante Smith-Pelly, Spurgeon palmed down a Nino Niederreiter rebound and swatted it in for a goal. 

* Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin left at 4:52 of the second period with a broken finger. Boudreau said he expects to know more Wednesday. … Wild forward Mikko Koivu (two assists) has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in the past 11 games. … Mikael Granlund (assist) has five assists in a four-game point streak.

"Well, they kept pushing, and I'm sure they believed they were going to tie it up the way [they] came out in the third period. We just did some uncharacteristically dumb things on all their goals. You can call it what you want, but they earned it, and we didn't." Bruce Boudreau
"It's frustrating because we threw it away. We haven't done that. We talked about this is an important game for us. Tie game with two minutes left, that's where we're usually solid." Dubnyk said.

Phoenix Coyotes @ Wild 3-4 - Thursday, January 19, 2017
Nino Niederreiter scored two power-play goals, including the tiebreaker with 7:06 left in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Coyotes 4-3 at Xcel Energy Center. Niederreiter has five goals in five games and 11 points in 12 games, including three points. Minnesota (29-10-5) is 18-2-1 in its past 21 games and has won 10 of its past 12 at home. The Wild, who lost 4-3 to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday and blew a 3-1 lead Thursday, have lost consecutive games in regulation once this season. Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves. He is 15-2-0 with 36 goals allowed in his past 17 starts.

Chris Stewart gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead on a breakaway at 16:31 of the second period, but Phoenix scored twice in 30 seconds to tie the game. Jakob Chychrun made it 3-2 at 16:54, and Jamie McGinn scored at 17:24. The Coyotes are 2-12-1 in their past 15 games and 0-6-1 in the past seven road games. Louis Domingue made 21 saves. Eric Staal scored at 4:39 of the first period to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Staal has a Wild-leading 16 goals and 40 points; he scored 39 points in 83 games last season with the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. Brendan Perlini scored with a wrist-shot high over Dubnyk's glove at 11:42 to make it 1-1. Niederreiter scored on the power play at 13:37 for a 2-1 lead.

* Wild forward Mikael Granlund passed the puck to Niederreiter, who redirected it toward the net for the game-winning goal.

* With Phoenix on a power play, Dubnyk stopped a slap shot by Radim Vrbata at 2:37 of the third period.

* Stewart deked Domingue before backhanding the goal, his 10th of the season.

"It was a [heck] of a pass by [Pominville] there to get me on a breakaway," Stewart said. "And that's a move I've been doing my whole life since junior, so kind of had it there."

* Jason Pominville led Stewart for his goal in the second period, one of his three assists.

"Tonight's one of those nights where things were working," Pominville said, "and felt good with the puck and you're able to make some plays, and obviously we scored on them."

"I feel like as a group our power play has been working really well. We are jumping on loose pucks and trying to shoot pucks more often. That is a key that has helped us be successful."
"It was a huge win for us. We came out hard. We knew they were going to come out hard. They are still a very good team. They are not where they want to be in the standings. We have to be way sharper than we were today. It wasn't our strongest game. We have to find a way to be better." Niederreiter said.

"If you lose one and you get right back ... I mean, I don't classify losing one as a losing streak, but you certainly like being able to bounce back every night that you lost a game. It's not going to happen all the time, but you'd certainly like to make an effort of it." Bruce Boudreau said.

Anaheim Sucks @ Wild 3-5 - Saturday, January 21, 2017

The Minnesota Wild scored three goals in a 1:59 span of the third period for a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Xcel Energy Center. Anaheim (26-14-9) led 3-2 with 6:21 remaining. Erik Haula scored for the Wild at 13:39, followed by Ryan Suter at 14:15 and Jason Zucker at 15:38. Minnesota (30-10-5) is 19-2-1 in its past 22 games and leads the Western Conference with 65 points. The Wild are 11-2-0 in the past 13 home games and 16-5-0 here this season. This is the third time this month Minnesota has rallied from a two-goal deficit to win (San Jose 5-4; Chicago 3-2; Anaheim 5-3). Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves. He is 16-2-0 with 39 goals allowed in his past 18 starts. The Ducks have two regulation losses in their past 11 games (8-2-1); each one is to the Wild and former coach Boudreau. The other was 2-1 in Anaheim on Jan. 8. Haula gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with a slap shot at 2:35 of the first period. Stefan Noesen tied it at 5:47, and Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 13:58 for a 2-1 lead. It was Fowler's 10th goal of the season, tying his NHL high set as a 19-year-old rookie in 2010-11. Corey Perry made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 2:23 of the second period. It was the first non-empty-net goal for Perry since Dec. 13 at the Dallas Stars. Zucker brought Minnesota within 3-2, getting a loose puck and beating defenseman Sami Vatanen to score at 5:03. It was Zucker's fourth goal in six games, and he has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in the past 14 games. The Ducks were 8-1-1 in their prior 10 games and had a point in 13 of 14 games (9-1-4). Anaheim's John Gibson made four saves before leaving at 14:22 of the first period with an upper-body injury. Jonathan Bernier made 16 saves in relief.

* Suter was positioned on the left side for a shot off a weird angle that deflected off Bernier for the go-ahead goal.

* Gibson blocked a backhander by Zach Parise at 6:58 of the first period.

* Wild defenseman Marco Scandella hustled back at 5:58 of the first period to prevent Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano from scoring on a wide-open shot to keep the score 1-1.

* Haula scored his second goal on a deflection in the slot off Suter's shot.
* The Wild recalled forward Kurtis Gabriel from Iowa of the American Hockey League before the game. Gabriel had one five-minute fighting penalty in 4:37 of ice time. He played in place of center Tyler Graovac, who was a healthy scratch.

"That was fun. It was loud, the crowd was into it. It was a lot of fun. It was a good ending to a great day for Minnesota." Ryan Suter
"I think we just kept pulling; it's hard to say when, but we could feel it at the end of the second there that we were turning around a little bit. That's a good team over there and they played hard and we're happy the way we came back." Haula said.

"I don't know. … I think a lot of guys are confident that they can do it over and over again. Certainly we wouldn't like to do it all the time. You like to be able to think that you can do it when you have to." Bruce Boudreau said.

Nashville Predators @ Wild 4-2 - Sunday, January 22, 2017

Filip Forsberg scored twice, including the game-winning goal at 13:24 of the third period, and Nashville Predators coach Peter Laviolette got his 500th NHL career win in a 4-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
Nashville (23-17-7) has won three in a row and concluded its five-game road trip 4-1-0. The Predators have won six of seven after going 2-4-2 in their previous eight games. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne made 21 saves and has won four of his past five starts, allowing eight goals. Minnesota (30-11-5) had a 2-0 lead after the first period. It was the third time on the Wild's four-game homestand they surrendered a two-goal lead. Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves. Predators forward James Neal made it 2-1 at 2:25 of the second period. Forsberg tied the game at 2:28 of the third. Ryan Johansen scored an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining. Wild forward Mikael Granlund scored at 2:18 of the first period. He has eight points (one goal, seven assists) during a career-high seven-game point streak. Jason Pominville made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Erik Haula and beat Rinne at 7:31. Pominville has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games. Wild captain Mikko Koivu did not play because of the flu.

* Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis passed to Forsberg, who one-timed a shot past Kuemper for the go-ahead goal.

* At 16:39 of the first period, Rinne denied Wild forward Jason Zucker of a rebound down low by getting his foot out and kept the game at 2-0.

* Ellis moved the puck up to Johansen for the empty-net goal. It was Ellis' second assist of the game. He has five points (three goals, two assists) in four games.

* Forsberg pulled the puck from between Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon's legs and backhanded into a wide-open net to make it 2-2.

* Laviolette became the 25th coach in NHL history to win 500 games. … Koivu is expected to fly with the Wild to Dallas on Monday.

"When you give yourself a two-goal lead, you can't let them hang around. You have to get that third one and put them out of the game, and we weren't able to do that." Zach Parise.

"Obviously if we want to win a championship, it's got to get better. You can't do that. You've got to be able to play with a lead. It's tough to play with a lead in this league. … You've got to go after them and try to increase the lead rather than just hold the lead."
"Look at our faceoffs; in the first two periods we were well under 50 percent. [Koivu's] our guy for faceoffs, so it hurt. It hurts the balance and everything." Bruce Boudreau said.