Parise scores twice, Wild beat Red Wings
Zach Parise and the Minnesota Wild have beaten teams a lot of ways this season. On Sunday, the Detroit Red Wings gave one of the league’s best power plays too many chances. Parise scored twice and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves to help the Western Conference-leading Wild beat the Red Wings 6-3.
The Wild scored three power-play goals in four chances, including two in the first period as they jumped to a 2-0 lead. Minnesota’s power play is tops in the NHL at home, converting 30.1 percent of its opportunities at Xcel Energy Center.
“We were in the box a little bit too much today,” Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “I thought they made some fine darn plays on the power play and it’s hard to be down like that.”
Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter scored with the man advantage in the first period. Parise then capped the scoring with a power-play goal in the third. The three powerplay goals, he noted, led to a deceiving final score.
“It was a tough game,” Parise said. “They do a good job in the D-zone. They’re in your face a lot and they make it pretty tough. But we got the power-play goals and that was the difference.”
Charlie Coyle added a goal and an assist for the Wild, who have points in five straight games. They lead second-place Chicago by five points and have played two fewer games than the Blackhawks.
Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist for Detroit, Henrik Zetterberg and Andreas Athanasiou also scored, and Jared Coreau made 23 saves. The Red Wings have lost four straight and have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
“It’s hard to win when you give up two on the (penalty kill) in the first like that,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought 5-on-5 we did tons of good stuff.”
BRUINS 4, CANADIENS 0
Tuukka Rask made 25 saves for the first home regular-season win of his career against Montreal, as Boston recorded the win at TD Garden. Rask, who came in 0-9-3 at home against the rival Canadiens, pitched his sixth shutout of the season and the 36th of his career as his team beat Montreal in Boston for the first time since Jan. 12, 2012. Peter Cehlarik handed out two assists, and Adam McQuaid, Zdeno Chara (short-handed), David Krejci and Frank Vatrano scored goals for the Bruins. Krejci added an assist.
CANUCKS 4, SABRES 2
Michael Chaput scored twice to lead Vancouver over Buffalo. Bo Horvat and Alexandre Burrows also scored for the Canucks. Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves. Tyler Ennis and Kyle Okposo scored for the Sabres and Robin Lehner made 27 saves.
SHARKS 4, DEVILS 1
Determined to end their four-game road trip on a positive note, the San Jose Sharks did just that Sunday afternoon, skating to a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. The Sharks (34-18-5) were 0-2-1 in the first three games of their trip out East, but Brent Burns scored twice, Joe Thornton added a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 21 saves to help guarantee a happy flight home. The Devils, playing for the first time coming off their bye week, have just one victory in their last nine home games (1-6-2).
PREDATORS 5, STARS 3
About to head into a five-day break with a pair of poorly played home losses, the Nashville Predators stormed back from a three-goal deficit to hand the Dallas Stars a potentially crushing loss. Scoring three unanswered goals in the first 6:02 of the third period, Nashville bagged a 5-3 win. Filip Forsberg gave the Predators (27-21-8) the lead for good with a short-handed goal on a breakaway, his 16th of the season. Dallas (22-2510) lost for the fifth time in six games.
ISLANDERS 5, AVALANCHE 1
Anders Lee scored twice in the third period Sunday night as the New York Islanders pulled away from the Colorado Avalanche for a 5-1 win. The Islanders (25-19-10) won for the third time in four games (3-1-0) and the ninth time in 13 (9-2-2). Joe Colborne scored for the NHL-worst Avalanche (15-36-2), who have lost three straight (0-3-0) and 17 of 20 (3-16-1) since the holiday break. — Agencies