Penguins in a flap as Koivu shows his Wild side

Best known as a defensive-minded centre, Mikko Koivu came up big at the other end on Saturday night for the Minnesota Wild.

The Wild captain scored midway through the third period to lift Minnesota over the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1.

Daniel Winnik also scored and Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves. The Wild, winless in their first four one-goal games this season, have won three of four overall.

“I think we’re starting to show the way we need to play to win hockey games,” Koivu said.

The Wild have allowed eight goals in their past four games. Coach Bruce Boudreau likes to put the line of Koivu, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund against other team’s top players, many that are more well-known for their offensive prowess.

“You know [Koivu] takes challenges,” Boudreau said. “He was against [Sidney] Crosby all night long and I thought he did a tremendous job. You know last game he was against [Islanders captain John] Tavares all night long. It gets him going when we challenge him with things like this. He took it as a challenge and he went out and did a great job at it.”

The line-up of Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary had just five shots on goal.

Saturday’s matches

San Jose Los Angeles New Jersey Detroit Montreal Philadelphia Anaheim St. Louis Minnesota NY Islanders Colorado Washington 3 2 4 3 5 4 4 4 2 6 6 5 Buffalo Boston Arizona Florida NY Rangers Toronto Tampa Bay Columbus Pittsburgh Nashville Chicago Edmonton 1 3 2 4 2 1 1 1 2 3 2