#mnwild tops Canadiens 4-1 in Montreal! Niederreiter, Granlund and Haula all score. #MINvsMTL pic.twitter.com/Xq1flNS7Sf
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 13, 2016
Minnesota Wild 4
Montreal Canadiens 1
The Wild put together a pair of goals in the first period and continued to chip away against a hard-hitting Canadiens defense to get the job done Saturday night. The win leapfrogs them ahead of the Colorado Avalanche in the Wild Card race with 74 points in the standings.
1) Granlund had a pair up his sleeve
Center Mikael Granlund recorded his first career two-goal game this evening with back to back points midway through both the second and third periods. The first came off a slick sequence, forward Matt Dumba waltzed around the Montreal defense on the left wing before deftly flicking the puck to a spotted-up Granlund on the right. Number two came off a loose puck rattled in on the right side of the goal as the Canadiens scrambled to cover during a wild power-play.
Granlund's second of the game 😁 pic.twitter.com/lVpZf5NtFm
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 13, 2016
2) Dubynk in fine form
After being scratched by head coach John Tochetti last Sunday, Wild goalie Devan Dubynk looked ironclad in front of the net. The 29 year old goaltender saved 30 of 31 shots and was instrumental in preventing a late surge from the Canadiens, making 14 saves in the third period alone.
Dubnyk looked sharp tonight. 30 saves – including 14 in the third period when Montreal had a good push.
— Anthony LaPanta (@AnthonyLaPanta) March 13, 2016
3) Wild take advantage of mistakes when it counts
Minnesota’s first goal of the night came off a Nino Niederreiter interception near center ice that led to an easy goal thanks to Montreal goalie Mike Condon cheating a little too far off the posts. In the final minutes, Erik Haula would score an empty net goal as the Canadiens defense failed to circle back in time to protect the net.
Tweet of the game
Some bizarre yet joyful world play from the Wild fan blog.
GrannyHattyGamey has a nicer ring to it than PuppyMonkeyBaby, but alas, it did not happen.
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) March 13, 2016
Up next:
The Wild will visit the Washington Senators Tuesday, March 15th. Face-off is at 6:30pm
