Minnesota Wild 3
St. Louis Blues 1
A road trip that features four games in six days started well for the Minnesota Wild, who knocked off the Blues 3-1 in St. Louis on New Year’s Eve.
Three things:
1 DD saves 33
Goaltender Devyn Dubnyk turned in a stellar performance for Minnesota, making 33 saves. And he showed again that he can sprawl his 6’5″ body all over the goal crease.
When Dubnyk makes a 🔥 save 😄 #mnwild #MINvsSTL pic.twitter.com/ku881VsLDq
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 1, 2016
2 Haula gets back on the scoresheet
We not saying the last few weeks were pointless for Erik Haula — but it’s true that he had no points in the last 15 games. What better way to break that streak than by scoring the winning goal in the third period? His goal at the 8:32 mark was his first since Nov. 10. It was followed later by a Thomas Vanek empty netter.
3 Third line’s the charm
Haula skated alongside Nino Niederreiter and Justin Fontaine on Minnesota’s third line. They combined for five points, with Niederreiter and Haula each notching a goal and an assist. Their production was needed with the Wild’s leading scorer – Zach Parise – out with an undisclosed injury.
Yeo: great response by Fontaine from scratch, Haula's best game of year, Nino was a "horse, played a big boy's game." #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 1, 2016
Tweet of the night
Here’s to 2015
#mnwild finishes 2015 with 53 wins (49 regular season & 4 playoffs) – its most in a single calendar year in franchise history (51 in 2007).
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) January 1, 2016
Up next:
The Wild continue their road trip in Florida this weekend. They’ll visit the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night at 6 p.m.
