Panthers, Luongo routed by Wild
Goalie pulled in third; Florida has lost 6 of 8 under new coach Rowe.
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves and five players scored a goal each as the Minnesota Wild won their fififth straight game, 5-1 over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Zach Parise, Erik Haula, Eric S t a a l , Mikko Koiv u a nd Ja s on Zucker scored for Minnesot a, which has points in 10 of its past 11 games. Zucker added an assist, and Jason Pominville and Jonas Brodin each had two assists for the Wild.
Roberto Luongo’s regrettable history in Minnesota continued as he stopped 12 of 17 shots before being pulled midway through the third period. Luongo is 0-7 and has been pulled in four of his past seven games at the Xcel Energy Center.
James Reimer stopped all fifive shots he faced in relief of Luongo. Dylan McIlrath scored his first goal of the season for the Panthers, who have one win in their past six games.
Dubynk is 7-0-2 in his last nine games and leads the league in goalsagainst average and save percentage. Since making his Wild debut Jan. 15, 2015, Dubnyk leads all NHL goaltenders in shutouts, save percentage and goals against-average while placing second in wins in that span.
The Panthers, who have won just twice under new coach Tom Rowe in eight games, thought they had pulled within a goal midway through the second period when Kyle Rau scored offff Dubnyk’s skate. A video review showed Derek McKenzie was offside, and the goal was waved offff.
Staal scored his seventh goal 67 seconds later to make it 3-0. Pominville passed to a streaking Staal for a breakaway. Luongo got his blocker on the initial shot, but Staal followed by batting the puck out of the air.
Parise opened the scoring in the fifirst period with his fifirst goal in eight games. He has fifive on the season and three in 11 games since returning from injury.
Notes: Luongo is 3-12-1 all-time at the Xcel Energy Center. He entered with a goals-against average of 3.21 and .884 save percentage in Minnesota. ... Wild D Christian Folin returned to the lineup after missing seven games with a sprained MCL in his left knee. ... Florida D Keith Yandle played in his 581st consecutive game, surpassing Johnny Wilson for sole possession of the ninth-longest streak in NHL history. WEST PALM BEACH — Tuesday night’s boys basketball district contest between Oxbridge Academy and Cardinal Newman felt more like a playoffff game than a mid-December matchup.
Keidron Smith scored a gamehigh 18 points, including two big second-half dunks that electrifified the home crowd, and the No. 5 ThunderWolves rallied from a fourth-quarter defificit to beat the No. 7 Crusaders 62-58.
T h e w i n k e p t O x b r i d g e unbeaten at 4-0, while Cardinal Newman dropped to 6-2.
“Basketball doesn’t get better than Newman vs. Oxbridge,” plan,