Pominville, Coyle Lead Wild To 2-1 Victory Over Canadiens
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jason Pominville and Charlie Coyle scored for Minnesota, and the Wild beat teetering Montreal 2-1 Tuesday night to stick the Canadiens with their fifth straight loss.
Daniel Carr spoiled the shutout bid by Darcy Kuemper by scoring between the pads with 7:14 remaining, giving the Canadiens some life. Kuemper and the Wild clamped down from there, dropping the Canadiens to 1-9 in their last 10 games.
Kuemper made 24 saves, giving regular goalie Devan Dubnyk a rest after the Wild lost 6-3 to Dallas the night before.
Mike Condon stopped 20 shots for the Canadiens, who have been outscored 19-5 during their losing streak. They have 15 goals in the last 10 games. For fans of the iconic franchise, and for the players, too, remembering that 19-4-3 record they had Dec. 1 is difficult to do considering this nasty skid.
The lower-body injury to star goalie Carey Price was a big blow, and coach Michel Therrien put the pressure this week on his goalies, Condon and Dustin Tokarski, to raise their play in light of all the losing. But the Canadiens just couldn't generate any kind of an attack in their third of eight straight road games.
The Wild took the lead midway through the first period, when Mikael Granlund's shot bounced high off Condon's shoulder area and into the crease. Pominville whirled around and took a backhanded whack at the puck to knock it in.
Granlund nearly got one himself in the final minute before the first intermission when he crashed the far side of the net on Nino Niederreiter's shot from the left wing. Condon was knocked backward as the puck slid onto the goal line, but he appeared to sweep it out from underneath him before it completely crossed. The call by the officials on the ice was no goal, a decision upheld by a replay review.
The Wild essentially sleepwalked through the second period, but Coyle scored his second goal in as many nights early in the final frame.
Zach Parise almost punched one in with a wraparound move a little later, another no-goal call that stayed the same after a replay review from league headquarters. The puck looked as if it went further in than Granlund's earlier, and the crowd really got riled up after the no-goal announcement. The boos continued after Carr's goal made it a one-score game.
The Wild improved to 13-4-1 at home this season. They've allowed only 15 non-empty-net goals in their last 33 regulation periods.
NOTES: Canadiens D Tom Gilbert left in the first period with a lower-body injury. Gilbert, a product of Bloomington Jefferson High School about 20 miles southwest of Xcel Energy Center, played 63 games for the Wild in 2012 and 2013. ... Coyle went nine games without a goal until scoring Monday. ... The Wild are 12-0-1 when leading after two periods. ... The Canadiens last played at home Dec. 17 and don't return to the ice in Montreal until Jan. 6.
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