Nashville Predators 0
Minnesota Wild 4
The Minnesota Wild enjoy playing hockey at home, and the proof is their 4-0 shutout of the Nashville Predators Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center. The victory snapped the team’s three-game losing streak. They’re 8-1-0 at home so far this season.
1. Making up for Parise’s loss
Zach Parise practiced with the team Saturday morning but missed his seventh straight game after injuring his knee. The team has missed him on the ice, but Saturday night other players stepped up to fill the void. Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist and played one of his best games, NHL.com notes.
In the #MNWild's seven games without Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek has six points and four goals.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) November 22, 2015
Ryan Suter had a goal and two assists, and Jason Pominville had two assists. Goalie Devan Dubnyk had another shutout, his third of the season, on 23 saves.
2. Getting a little revenge for Parise’s injury
The game got a little chippy times and featured three fights, one of which led to a 10-minute misconduct penalty against Predator Mike Ribeiro, the Associated Press notes. The other involved James Neal, the Nashville forward who hit Parise in the knee Nov. 5 and knocked him out of action for the past two weeks.
3. Playing good defense
Minnesota players did a good job of keeping Nashville to the outside all night, making Dubnyk’s job in goal a little easier and giving him clear sightlines on most of the shots he faced, according to NHL.com.
Tweet of the night
#MNWild coach Mike Yeo on the 4-0 W vs. @PredsNHL: 'We knew coming home would energize us' @mnwild https://t.co/YssGYbpUMs
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) November 22, 2015
Congratulations to #CapFinn Koivu, who is skating in his 700th @NHL game (all with the #mnwild) pic.twitter.com/mubJMjCuPr
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 22, 2015
Next up
The Wild host Vancouver Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the X.
