A day after the Minnesota Wild was called out for its poor play, it squeaked by with a shootout win over the Arizona Coyotes Saturday night.
“To battle adversity tonight and play a man short, I thought all the defense did a great job and really stepped up,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said, according to Wild.com. “We talked about it yesterday: We can’t accept anything close and we were close for 55 minutes and we found a way to come back and win the game. That’s a big credit to the boys.”
Yeo had called out the team for their poor play at Friday’s practice, and the team fought back Saturday with only five defensemen and 19 skaters, reports note. The team’s top defensive pair – Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin – played for a combined 65:41 seconds Saturday night.
Zach Parise notched the tying goal on the power play late in the third period, and he and Mikko Koivu scored in the shootout to lift the Wild to a 4-3 win and extend the Coyotes’ franchise-record losing streak.
“For us to come back to find a way to win is important given the way things have gone for us lately,” Parise said, Wild.com notes. “There was definitely more life, and to get rewarded with a road win was important.”
Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker also tallied goals for the Wild. Two of the Wild’s three goals came on the power play – the team had only scored one power-play goal in 44 chances in the first 14 games of the season, according to The Associated Press.
Niklas Backstrom made 26 saves for the Wild.
