NHL - Wild - Round Up - March 15-25, 2017

Wild @ Carolina Hurricanes 1-3 - Thursday, March 16, 2017

Victor Rask and Teuvo Teravainen scored late in the third period to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at PNC Arena. The Hurricanes cycled the puck in the corner before Rask cut to the net and slipped the puck through the legs of goalie Devan Dubnyk with 3:24 left for a 2-1 lead. Teravainen scored into an empty net with 1:26 remaining to make it 3-1.
Eddie Lack made 31 saves for the Hurricanes (29-27-12), who have a point in five straight games (3-0-2). The Wild (43-20-6) lost a third straight game to end their road trip 1-4-0. Minnesota trails the Chicago Blackhawks by three points for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference. Chicago defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1. Carolina took a 1-0 lead on Derek Ryan's power-play goal at 4:37 of the first period. When Dubnyk bobbled Noah Hanifin's shot, Ryan got to the net for his 11th of the season. Minnesota tied the game 1-1 with a shorthanded goal at 12:35 of the first. Mikko Koivu cut to the slot and passed ahead to Mikael Granlund, who scored his third shorthanded goal of the season. Lack, who made his first start since March 7, stopped Charlie Coyle's open-net bid with a glove save 30 seconds into the third period.

* Lindholm's hard work along the boards set up Rask, who powered past Wild forward Jason Zucker for the go-ahead goal.

* Lack saved consecutive shots on the doorstep from Eric Staal, Coyle and Matt Dumba with 4:53 remaining in the third period.

* Koivu split two defenders with a backhand touch on his pass to Granlund, who lifted the puck for his Wild-leading 24th goal.

* Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin blocked four shots in 21:48 of ice time.

* Carolina trails the Toronto Maple Leafs by eight points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. … Boudreau coached his 750th NHL game. His .660 points percentage is best among active coaches (452-212-86). ... Hurricanes center Jordan Staal played his 750th NHL game. ... Hurricanes center Lukas Wallmark, in his third NHL game, won eight of 12 faceoffs. ... Lack is 3-0-1 against the Wild.

NY Rangers @ Wild 3-2 - Saturday, March 18, 2017

Antti Raanta made 25 saves for the New York Rangers in a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild (43-21-6) lost their fourth straight game and are 1-6-0 in their past seven. Minnesota is five points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference with one game in hand. Chicago defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime. The Rangers (45-24-3), who played the first of a six-game road trip, have an NHL-best 26-9-0 record away from home. New York holds the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and is four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Staal, who played his 999th NHL game, scored at 12:54 of the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Brady Skjei tied it 1-1 at 16:01 with a shot from inside the blue line. Oscar Lindberg gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 7:46 of the second period, and Jimmy Vesey scored his 15th goal to make it 3-1 at 17:34. Matt Dumba scored on a rebound of a Zach Parise shot for a power-play goal to make it 3-2 at 4:51 of the third period. The Wild lead the NHL in home power-play percentage (.294) and have 17 power-play goals in their past 18 home games. Raanta started his second game of a back-to-back. He made 34 saves in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday. Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for Minnesota.

* Vesey got to a loose rebound and shot top shelf past Dubnyk.

* Dubnyk made a glove save at 14:00 of the first period on a shorthand breakaway by Jesper Fast.

* Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith dropped to the ice to break up a 2-on-1 by the Wild and took the puck up ice at 10:26 of the second period. 

* Skjei one-timed a pass from Mats Zuccarello for the tying goal. Skjei leads Rangers defensemen in even-strength points (29) and is second in points (33; Ryan McDonagh has 38).

* Staal has six points (five goals, one assist) in his past five games. … Zuccarello has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Wild center Martin Hanzal had an assist in his first game back after missing three with an illness.

Philadelphia Flyers @ Wild 3-1 - Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Minnesota Wild missed a chance to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth Thursday when they lost 3-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild (44-23-6) would have become the second Western Conference team to qualify for the postseason if the Los Angeles Kings lost in regulation, but the Kings defeated the Jets 5-2. Minnesota trails the Chicago Blackhawks by eight points for first place in the Central Division and conference. Sean Couturier, Matt Read and Jakub Voracek scored, and Steve Mason made 24 saves for the Flyers (34-31-8), who trail the Boston Bruins by six points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Flyers ended a four-game road losing streak. They have won five of their past 22 games away from Wells Fargo Center. Zach Parise scored on the rebound off an Eric Staal shot 2:07 into the game to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Couturier tied it 1-1 with 2:01 left in the first, and Read scored 21 seconds into the second period to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead. Voracek scored into an empty net with 45 seconds remaining to make it 3-1. Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves in his 16th straight game. Minnesota, which ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, has not won two games in a row since Feb. 27-28.

* Read capitalized when Wild defenseman Matt Dumba was unable to control the puck on his backhand in front of the Minnesota net, knocking it past Dubnyk to put the Flyers ahead to stay.

* Dubnyk pinned Couturier's backhand try against his chest at 10:13 of the second period after stopping a Wayne Simmonds shot on a 2-on-1 rush.

* Flyers rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov had one shot on goal, three blocked shots and a plus-1 rating in 22:27. "We were doing all the right things tonight as a team, as a group, and that's why we got the win," he said.
* Couturier swept the puck between his legs and switched to his backhand to beat Dubnyk and tie the game.

* Defenseman Brandon Manning returned to the Flyers lineup after missing five games with a shoulder injury. He had a minus-1 rating, two shots on goal, two hits and two blocked shots in 20:00. ... Couturier has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games. ... Parise has one goal and four assists during a four-game point streak. ... Staal has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past eight games.

Vancouver Canucks @ Wild 4-2 - Saturday, March 25, 2017
The Minnesota Wild lost 4-2 to the Vancouver Canucks at Xcel Energy Center  but clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth from the Western Conference. Despite the loss, Minnesota's ninth in its past 11 games, the Wild (44-24-6) qualified for the postseason when the Los Angeles Kings lost 3-0 to the New York Rangers later Saturday. Minnesota trails the Chicago Blackhawks by eight points for first place in the Central Division and conference with one game in hand. After a 4-1 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, the Canucks (30-35-9), who have two wins in nine games (2-5-2), were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Vancouver's two wins in those games were against the Central Division's top two teams, Chicago and Minnesota. Vancouver scored all of its goals in the second period. Reid Boucher scored on the power play 19 seconds in to make it 1-0. Boucher scored his second of the game and sixth of the season at 5:40 to make it 2-0 with a shot that hit the camera in the back of the net and bounced out. A video review determined it was a good goal. Brock Boeser scored in his NHL debut at 11:51 to make it 3-0. Boeser, a Burnsville, Minnesota, native, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Canucks on Saturday after he and the University of North Dakota were eliminated from the NCAA tournament on Friday. Jack Skille scored at 13:37 to increase the lead 4-0. Ryan Suter scored at 17:19 of the third period to ruin the shutout for Richard Bachman. Eric Staal scored at 18:45. Staal has nine points (six goals, three assists) in his past nine games. Bachman made 25 saves for the Canucks in his third start of the season. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves for MInnesota in his first start since March 10.

* Boucher settled a bouncing puck and slid it past an outstretched Kuemper for the first goal of the game.

* Bachman stopped Zach Parise from scoring with a pad save at 15:42 of the first period.

* Bo Horvat skated toward Kuemper on a breakaway setting up the rebound goal for Boeser's second goal. Horvat also assisted on Boucher's first goal for a two-point game.

* Boeser picked up the loose puck after an initial save by Kuemper and tapped it to the back of the net for the eventual game-winning goal.

* Skille left the game at 16:27 of the second period with an ankle injury. Desjardins said he doesn't expect him to return to the lineup for a while. …Wild defenseman Christian Folin returned after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. … Minnesota forward Ryan White returned after missing two games with the flu.