Wild overcome mumps, dish out lumps in win over Sharks
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Zach Parise and Jason Pominville returned from the mumps, Eric Staal found his scoring touch, and the Minnesota Wild finally were able to put their new-look lineup together.
Staal scored twice, and Devan Dubnyk made 20 saves as Minnesota held on for a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
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Pominville assisted on Parise’s 15th goal to open the scoring as the Wild won for the third time in four games.
Parise and Pominville each returned after missing three games, and Minnesota had its full lineup on the ice for the first time since trading for Martin Hanzal and Ryan White.
“Big, strong guys, tough to play against,” Staal said of the retooled lineup.
The Wild (90 points) moved back ahead of idle Chicago (89 points) for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference.
Melker Karlsson scored for San Jose, which had won three in a row and had an eight-game point streak snapped. Martin Jones stopped 25 of 27 shots.
Leading the conference standings at the time, Minnesota made a move to fortify its lines by acquiring Hanzal and White from Arizona on Feb. 26.
The next day, the team announced Parise and Pominville had been diagnosed with the mumps.
Parise scored 11 minutes in when he deftly deflected a pass from Pominville between his legs and the legs of Jones.
“From mumps to mumps, yeah,” Pominville said. “Everyone was laughing in the room after. I didn’t think about it ’til we got in the room.”
Blue Jackets 3, Devils 0 — At New- ark, N.J., Sergei Bobrovsky had 20 saves in his second straight shutout and franchise-record 34th win of the season, and New Jersey lost its seventh straight.
Flames 5, Islanders 2 — At Calgary, Alberta, Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist to back Brian Elliott, who had 33 saves in his sixth straight victory, as Calgary won its seventh in a row.
Blues 3, Avalanche 0 — At Denver, Paul Stastny scored his first goal in 11 games against his former team to back Jake Allen, who had 27 saves, as St. Louis halted a five-game slide.
Penguins 4, Sabres 3 — At Pittsburgh, Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored 50 seconds apart late in the third period for Pittsburgh, which overcame a 3-0 deficit.
Canucks 2, Ducks 1 — At Anaheim, Calif., Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund scored to back Richard Bachman, who had 43 saves in his first victory since Oct. 30, 2015.
Hurricanes 2, Coyotes 1 — At Glendale, Ariz., Derek Ryan scored the go-ahead goal with 3:57 left to back Eddie Lack, who had 24 saves.