It’s Wild at the very top of Western Conference
Playing on the road for the second straight night against one of their biggest rivals, Devan Dubnyk and the Minnesota Wild rallied to another big win.
Not much to complain about for Wild coach Bruce Boudreau.
“They just refuse to lose at this stage,” he said.
Dubnyk made 33 saves, Jason Pominville scored in the third period and Minnesota beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Sunday to grab sole possession of the top spot in the Western Conference.
Nino Niederreiter and Chris Stewart also scored as Minnesota earned its fourth straight win, improving to 17-1-1 since Dec. 4. The Wild beat the Blackhawks for the eighth straight time.
“To beat this team eight times in a row is really something,” said Boudreau, who was behind the bench in Anaheim when the Ducks were eliminated by the Blackhawks in the 2015 Western Conference finals. “I wish I had had that knowledge a couple years ago.”
Minnesota (28-9-5) jumped in front for good when Marco Scandella shot the puck behind the net and it caromed right to Pominville standing all alone on the right side of the crease. He knocked it into the open net for his sixth of the season at 5:08 of the third.
Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter was sent off for tripping with 22.4 seconds left, but Chicago didn’t get a good look even with the 6-on-4 advantage.
Patrick Kane scored twice on a whopping 12 shots for the Blackhawks (27-14-5), who were coming off an ugly 6-0 loss at Washington.
The reigning NHL MVP beat Dubnyk on the stick side at 4:33 of the first, and then added his 14th of the season in the second. The wing dug the puck out of the faceoff circle and snapped it
over Dubnyk’s left shoulder for a 2-0 lead at 4:16.
Minnesota got one back after Artem Anisimov was sent off for tripping at 5:04 of the second. Jonas Brodin’s long shot went off Wild center Mikael Granlund in front and dropped to the ice near Niederreiter, who slammed it in for his 12th.
Stewart tied it at 2 when he beat Corey Crawford on the short side from the left circle with 9 minutes left.
Devils 2, Canucks 1: Taylor Hall scored 1:28 into overtime as visiting New Jersey won its second straight game. Skating on a 2-on-1 with Damon Severson, Hall chose to hold the puck and beat Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom through the legs.
Capitals 5, Flyers 0: Justin Williams and Matt Niskanen each scored two goals and Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 shots as host Washington extended its winning streak to nine. The Capitals, who lead the NHL with 63 points, came alive with four goals on seven shots in the first seven minutes of the third period. Blues 2, Ducks 1: Patrik Berglund’s second goal of the game, 51 seconds into overtime, lifted visiting St. Louis. Carter Hutton stopped 22 shots for his second win in two nights for the Blues.