Anderson rebounds against Leafs
TORONTO — Ottawa coach Guy Boucher didn’t think twice about going back with Craig Anderson in net against Toronto, one night after yanking him in an 8-2 loss to Chicago.
Anderson responded with 44 saves and Tom Pyatt scored the winner with 3:05 to play as the Senators beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 on Wednesday in the final game for both teams before starting their bye weeks.
“I was very confident he would come in and have a rebound game and that’s exactly what he did,” Boucher said.
Anderson had allowed four goals on 26 shots 24 hours earlier against the Blackhawks.
“You have to put it behind you as quickly as possible,” said Anderson. “You have to leave that in the past and move on.”
Pyatt took a feed from Matt Duchene on a 3-on-1 after Morgan Rielly got caught pinching at Ottawa’s blue line and beat Frederik Andersen high blocker side for the winning goal.
Babcock pulled Andersen with over two minutes to play, looking for the equalizer, but couldn’t get it as Toronto dropped its second game in a row.
“We had lots of opportunities but we got impatient,” Babcock said. “Give Anderson credit.” CHICAGO — The Minnesota Wild overcame a shaky start for a timely victory against a division rival.
Ryan Suter gave Minnesota the lead on a 4-on-4 early in the third period, Devan Dubnyk made 34 saves and the Wild held off the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 to end a two-game slide.
Jonas Brodin scored in the second period for Minnesota (23-17-4). The Wild pulled two points ahead of Chicago (21-16-6) in the tight Central Division and tussle for playoff spots in the Western Conference.
The Wild were outshot 14-5 in the first period — and lucky to trail just 1-0.
“The first period was terrible,” Suter said. “We weren’t skating, no energy, turning a lot of pucks over, and they were playing in our end.”