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Last Wednesday the Minnesota Wild addressed their goaltending situation by trading a third-round pick to the Arizona Coyotes for Devan Dubnyk. Dubnyk made his Wild debut the following night, shutting out the Buffalo Sabres 7-0.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 25 shots against his former team, and Jason Zucker and Zach Parise both scored their 16th goal of the season to lead the Minnesota Wild past the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 on Saturday night. Charlie Coyle also scored for the Wild (20-19-5), who won their second straight after dropping seven of eight.
Alright Wild fans, are you back on the bandwagon yet? I, of course, never got off. But was last night's win enough to get you back to believing in this team? It was enough for WCCO-TV reporter Rachel Slavik, who sent me the following text after last night's game:
Devan Dubnyk stopped 18 shots in his Minnesota debut, Jason Pominville had three assists against his former team, and the Wild snapped a six-game skid with a 7-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. The Sabres extended their losing streak to nine — all decided in regulation. No NHL has done that since the Edmonton Oilers lost nine straight in regulation from Feb. 25 to March 15, 2007, according to STATS.
The NHL has suspended Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter for two games, without pay, for elbowing Pittsburgh Penguins forward Steve Downie. Suter struck Downie on Tuesday night at 4:22 of the second period. The NHL handed down the punishment on Wednesday.
On Jan. 2, the Minnesota Wild defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 3-1. The hope at the time was that winning the first game in 2015 would be a springboard to another playoff berth much like last year, when Minnesota defeated Buffalo in their first game of 2014. Instead, the Wild have lost six-straight games and find themselves eight points out from the final playoff spot.
After watching Tuesday's massacre in Pittsburgh, I actually have a lot of sympathy for the entire Minnesota Wild team. You can see they're defeated, they hold their heads down and they're beat well before they even step on the ice.
The Minnesota Wild acquired goalie Devan Dubnyk from the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday for a third-round draft pick.
Hockey Day Minnesota is this Saturday. High school, college and pro teams will play outside throughout the day on a specially-made rink. It's a celebration of the state's official sport that an estimated 100,000 Minnesotans play.
David Perron scored twice and added an assist to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins by the reeling Minnesota Wild 7-2 on Tuesday night. Paul Martin, Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz each had a goal and an assist for the Penguins. Marcel Goc and Brandon Sutter also scored for Pittsburgh.
Let's recap your weekend, shall we? The Timberwolves lost their 14th and 15th in a row Friday and Saturday night. The Wild were outscored a combined 7-2 in losses to Nashville and Chicago, and have now lost five in a row and 11 of their last 13. Gopher men's basketball blew a 9-point lead with less than 8 to play at Michigan and lost their fourth in a row. Men's hockey was swept in Michigan, too, and has now lost three of four.
The most fitting summary of the Minnesota Wild at the midpoint of their schedule came from defenseman Ryan Suter minutes after their latest flat performance.
The weary Wild dropped their fifth consecutive game, including a 3-1 home loss to Nashville on Saturday night. Matt Cooke scored his third goal in the third period, and Niklas Backstrom had 31 saves in his third consecutive start.
Defenseman Ryan Suter has been selected to represent the Minnesota Wild at the NHL All-Star Weekend Jan. 24-25 in Columbus, Ohio. It is the second All-Star appearance for Suter. Suter has one goal and 21 assists in 38 games this season for the Wild, the fourth-most points by a Minnesota player.
Calle Jarnkrok scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the Nashville Predators beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Saturday. Mike Fisher and Colin Wilson also scored for Nashville, which improved to 9-1-2 in its past 12 games and has a league-best 60 points. Pekka Rinne made 36 saves.
