For the first time in a month, the Minnesota Wild have themselves a winning streak.
Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves to lift the Wild to a 3-2 win at Detroit on Friday, the first time since Jan. 23 that the Wild followed-up a win with another win.
Minnesota entered having lost nine of its previous 11 games, going 2-6-3 in that span.
The Wild took a 1-0 lead with 3:04 remaining in the first period on a goal by Luke Kunin, who took a rebound off of a wraparound attempted by Joel Eriksson Ek and put the chance home just underneath the crossbar.
Minnesota then took a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later when Jordan Greenway took a loose puck, skated toward the middle of the ice above the faceoff circles and beat Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier to the glove side.
The Red Wings cut their deficit to 2-1 early in the second period on a goal by Tyler Bertuzzi, who camped in front of the Wild net and tipped home a shot from the point by Filip Hronek.
But Minnesota regained a two-goal lead with 9:51 left in the second on a power-play goal by Eric Staal, who got his stick on the puck in the midst of a horde of bodies in front of Bernier and buried the chance to make it 3-1 Minnesota. It was Staal's first goal in 12 games.
Detroit cut Minnesota's lead to 3-2 with 16:54 remaining on a power-play goal by Anthony Mantha, whose point shot deflected off the arm of Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin and past Dubnyk.
The Red Wings pulled Bernier with less than two minutes remaining, but despite some sustained pressure in the Wild zone for the next minute, they couldn't get the equalizer and lost for the fourth straight time -- with three of the losses by one goal (two in overtime)
Bernier made 32 saves in net for the Red Wings, who have now played in 34 one-goal games, the most in the NHL.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Detroit | |
Luke Kunin 2 | Points | Filip Hronek 2 |
Luke Kunin 1 | Goals | Tyler Bertuzzi 1 |
Luke Kunin 1 | Assists | Filip Hronek 2 |
Eric Staal 1 | Power Play Goals | Anthony Mantha 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Devan Dubnyk .929 | Save Percentage | Jonathan Bernier .914 |
Devan Dubnyk 26 | Saves | Jonathan Bernier 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 35 | 3 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 4 | 28 |
Detroit | 28 | 2 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 6 | 35 |