Wild @ Columbus Blue Jackets 0-1 - Thursday, March 02, 2017
Sergei Bobrovsky made 38 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and Brandon Saad scored for the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 1-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at Nationwide Arena. On Tuesday, Bobrovsky made 29 saves but lost by the same score in overtime at the Montreal Canadiens. Saad scored at 4:32 of the third period for the Blue Jackets (40-16-6), who are 3-0-1 since returning from their five-day break. Devan Dubnyk made 39 saves for the Wild (41-15-6). Saad's 19th goal gave Columbus the lead on its 32nd shot after he took a stretch down the right wing by Nick Foligno. Dubnyk made the initial save off his chest but could not gather the rebound and Saad followed to poke it in. Minnesota had a 1-0 lead taken off the board at 7:23 of the second period after a video review ruled that Wild forward Erik Haula kicked the puck toward the net. It went off the skate of Blue Jackets forward William Karlsson into the goal.
* Saad scored after coming down his off wing and finding the loose puck for the rebound.
* Bobrovsky came up big during the Wild's second power play in the first period when he slid across the crease to save a Martin Hanzal shot after a cross-ice pass by Charlie Coyle.
* Bobrovsky stopped an Eric Staal breakaway at 14:13 of the second period. "I was looking to go low blocker and he didn't even go down so I should have went through his legs," Staal said. "It would have been an easy one."
* Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard played 22:19, including 4:09 on the penalty kill, had two takeaways, three blocked shots and was plus-1.
* Minnesota's Zach Parise and Jason Pominville missed their third straight game because of mumps. … Defenseman Kyle Quincey and forward Lauri Korpikoski made their Blue Jackets debuts after being acquired in trades on Wednesday. … In their last meeting on Dec. 31, Columbus won 4-2 to extend its winning streak to 15 games and stop the Wild's at 12. Since then, Minnesota is 18-6-2 and the Blue Jackets are 14-11-2. … Bobrovsky made 18 saves in the third period. … Each team was 0 for 4 on the power play. … The Blue Jackets played in two straight 1-0 games for the first time in their history. .. The Blue Jackets have consecutive home shutouts. Joonas Korpisalo defeated the New York Islanders 7-0 on Saturday. The last time the Blue Jackets got two straight shutouts at home was Dec. 3, 2013, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dec. 6, 2013, against Minnesota.
Wild @ Tampa Bay Lightning 1-4 - Thursday, March 09, 2017
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena. Victor Hedman and Andrej Sustr also scored for the Lightning (31-26-9), who lost forwards Tyler Johnson, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette, each to a lower-body injury. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves to improve to 4-0-1 in his past five starts. Marco Scandella scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves for the Wild (42-17-6). Minnesota lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Nov. 1 and 5. Kucherov made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 6:53 of the first period when he beat Dubnyk with a wrist shot from the left circle to the short side. Hedman gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead at 11:01. Jonathan Drouin found Hedman open with a cross-ice pass and he beat Dubnyk on the short side with a wrist shot. Sustr scored his 2nd goal of the season at 4:37 of the second period to make it 3-0. Kucherov left a drop pass for Sustr, who sent a wrist shot that got past Dubnyk through the five-hole. Scandella scored at 16:02 of the third period to make it 3-1. Jonas Brodin put a shot on goal and Scandella jammed the puck into the net on the follow up. Kucherov scored his 30th goal of the season into an empty net with 1:09 remaining. Namestnikov was injured at 3:18 of the second period when his skate got caught under Parise and he needed to be helped off the ice. Johnson was injured at 8:04 of the second when he was checked by Nino Niederreiter and the two players appeared to bang knees on the boards. Johnson also needed to be helped off the ice.
Paquette went down midway through the third period when he got tangled with Niederreiter and was injured when both players went down to the ice.
* Hedman's goal proved to be the game-winner and was set up perfectly by Drouin's accurate pass that gave the defenseman a clean look at his target.
"I think he might have been a little unlucky for a stretch but he's definitely stepping up right now," Stralman said.
* Lightning defenseman Luke Witkowski took shifts at forward for the second consecutive game and had four hits in 9:11 of ice time.
* Kucherov's power-play goal came six seconds into the man-advantage when he put a shot over Dubnyk's shoulder from the left faceoff circle.
* Hedman's goal proved to be the game-winner and was set up perfectly by Drouin's accurate pass that gave the defenseman a clean look at his target.
* Vasilevskiy turned away Erik Haula on a point-blank opportunity at the hash mark at 6:19 of the third period.
* Lightning defenseman Luke Witkowski took shifts at forward for the second consecutive game and had four hits in 9:11 of ice time.
* Kucherov's power-play goal came six seconds into the man-advantage when he put a shot over Dubnyk's shoulder from the left faceoff circle.
* Hedman tied his NHL season high in goals with 13. … Wild captain Mikko Koivu had an assist and has 10 points in his past 10 games.
Wild @ Florida Panthers 7-4 - Friday, March 10, 2017
Zach Parise scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:07 remaining in the third period, and the Minnesota Wild defeated the Florida Panthers 7-4 at BB&T Center. Eric Staal had two goals and an assist, and Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville scored for the Wild (43-17-6), who haven't lost three straight in regulation this season. Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle scored empty-net goals, and Jonas Brodin had two assists for Minnesota. Darcy Kuemper made his first start since Feb. 28 but was pulled for Devan Dubnyk to start the third period after allowing three goals on 28 shots. Minnesota lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and 4-1 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Jonathan Marchessault, Mark Pysyk, Jaromir Jagr and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers (29-26-11), who have lost four straight and seven of their past eight (1-6-1). James Reimer, making his third consecutive start with Roberto Luongo out because of a hip injury, made 39 saves. Barkov gave Florida a 4-3 lead at 2:57 of the third period when he scored into an open net after Pysyk's dump-in bounced off Dubnyk's stick and in front of the net. Staal made it 4-4 at 5:24 with a rebound after Reimer stopped Marco Scandella's backhand. Zucker made it 1-0 at 7:50 of the first period when he tipped Brodin's shot from the point before Marchessault tied it 1-1 at 14:22, seven seconds into a Florida power play. Pysyk gave Florida a 2-1 lead at 18:11 with a wrist shot from the slot before Staal tied it 2-2 at 8:07 of the second period when he one-timed Nino Niederreiter's pass in front of the net. The Wild took a 3-2 lead at 10:08 when Pominville got to a loose puck in front of the net with Reimer on his back after making a save. Jagr tied it 3-3 when he skated behind the Minnesota net and his turnaround shot went in off Kuemper's stick.
* Parise scored after Reimer couldn't handle Brodin's shot from the point after it was deflected by Pominville.
* Pominville's goal came off a wild sequence that began with an innocent-looking shot on Reimer, who went down after making the save while players from both teams unsuccessfully tried to get at the puck. Pominville eventually skated in and shot over Reimer, and the goal was allowed after the Panthers challenged for goalie interference.
* The Panthers killed three Wild power plays and are 29-for-29 in their past 12 games. Florida leads the NHL in penalty kill percentage (.866). ... Panthers coach Tom Rowe split the first line of Jagr, Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau when he put Reilly Smith with Jagr and Barkov. Huberdeau skated on a line with Trocheck and Colton Sceviour.
* Florida had some pressure leading 2-1 early in the second period when Trocheck made a cross-ice pass to Aaron Ekblad for a one-timer from the left circle, but Kuemper slid over to make the save.
* Wild center Martin Hanzal had a game-high five hits and led Minnesota with three blocked shots in 16:40 of ice time.
Wild @ Washington Capitals 2-4 - Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Alex Ovechkin scored to end his NHL career-long 10-game goal drought, and the Washington Capitals ended a four-game losing streak with a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Verizon Center. Washington (45-17-7) leads the NHL, Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division. Ovechkin scored at 14:52 of the second period to give Washington a 2-0 lead; it was his 28th goal of the season and first since Feb. 19. Nate Schmidt, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jay Beagle scored, and Braden Holtby made 30 saves for the Capitals. Matt Dumba and Eric Staal scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 36 saves for Minnesota (43-19-6), which has lost five of its past seven and fell one point behind the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference and Central Division when Chicago defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2. Dumba scored his eighth 37 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. Staal made it 3-2 on the power play at 4:37 with his 23rd. Beagle's goal with 5:41 remaining in the third period gave Washington a 4-2 lead. It was his 12th of the season, first in 16 games dating to Feb. 4. Schmidt scored with 12 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 lead, his second goal of the season. Kuznetsov made it 3-0 at 17:08 of the second period on the power play, his 16th.
* Ovechkin's one-timer went in stick side between Dubnyk's arm and body.
* Dubnyk stopped Justin Williams with a pad save on the penalty kill in the second period.
* Kuznetsov finished a feed from Nicklas Backstrom past Dubnyk's blocker far-side.
* Capitals defenseman John Carlson cleaned up a defensive-zone turnover while on the power play in the second period to help prevent a shorthanded chance for the Wild.
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