The Minnesota Wild picked up their second victory on their three-game road trip by beating Florida 4-1 Monday night.
Jason Zucker had a big night for the Wild as he scored a pair of goals and was dominant on the ice through the first two periods. Nino Niederreiter added his team-leading 10th goal of the season and Mikko Koivu had a pair of assists for the Wild.
Zucker put the Wild on the scoreboard in the first period when his wrist shot beat Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo at the 5:52 mark.
It marked the first time this month the Wild had scored a first period goal in a road game.
Niederreiter stretched Minnesota’s lead to 2-0 later in the first with his goal.
After the Panthers cut it to 2-1 in the second, Zucker was back with his third goal of the road trip and his eighth of the season.
Then leading by two, in the final two minutes Zach Parise put the game away with an empty-netter.
Wild coach Mike Yeo was happy with how the team played.
Yeo: the battle level right from the start, the guys were engaged.For a good part of the game,our game looked the way it's supposed to look
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 25, 2014
Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced in net for Minnesota.
The Wild return home Wednesday to face the LA Kings.
Scoring Summary
1st period: 5:52 MIN – Jason Zucker (7) Wrist shot – Assist: Mikko Koivu (4) 1-0 MIN
1st period: 17:43 MIN – Nino Niederreiter (10) Backhand shot – Assist: None 2-0 MIN
2nd period: 5:34 FLA – Shawn Thornton (1) Tip in – Dmitry Kulikov (6) 2-1 MIN
2nd period: 17:19 MIN – Zucker (8) Backhand shot – Assist: Koivu (5) 3-1 MIN
3rd period: 18:31 MIN EN – Zach Parise (8) Wrist shot – Assist: Jason Pominville (9), Ryan Suter (10) 4-1 MIN
