Minnesota 1, Toronto 0
When: 8:00 PM ET, Thursday, December 3, 2015
Where: Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Referees:
Ghislain Hebert, Dave Jackson
Linesmen:
Brad Kovachik, Brian Murphy
Attendance:
18880
By The Sports Xchange
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- The Toronto Maple Leafs made a rare visit to Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night and, in a tightly-contested game in which both teams came away feeling good about their performance, the margin of error was a matter of inches.
Defenseman Matt Dumba scored the game's lone goal, and Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves to win a goaltending battle in the Minnesota Wild's 1-0 victory over the Maple Leafs.
The Wild were clinging to the lead with four minutes to go when coach Mike Yeo challenged an apparent goal by Toronto center Peter Holland. The Wild won the challenge after officials ruled Holland was inches offside entering the Minnesota zone.
"(Minnesota defenseman Ryan) Suter made a good play, he kind of bumped me there to give me that little extra nudge offside," Holland said. "I did my best to keep my leg onside, like I said, again it was close, and the replay obviously showed that it was offside."
Dubnyk recorded his NHL-leading fourth shutout of the season and won his 13th game of the season two nights after allowing one goal to the Chicago Blackhawks.
"One goal against, that's pretty good in two games," Yeo said. "Toronto was doing a pretty good job as far as net-front play and as far as throwing pucks there. A lot of traffic in front. I thought he was picking up those pucks extremely well tonight."
Toronto dropped to 0-5-2 when playing on consecutive nights this season. Coach Mike Babcock thought the Maple Leafs played well a night after a 6-1 loss in Winnipeg.
"We had lots of opportunities, they didn't have many, and I thought we did a good job," Babcock said. "Unfortunately, we didn't score. I'm a big believer you just stick with the process, do good things and good things will happen to you over time."
Toronto goaltender James Reimer shook off the rust from a four-game layoff due to injury and displayed the form which earned him a 2.07 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage in 15 prior appearances.
Reimer, who made 27 saves in his return, withstood a barrage of Minnesota scoring chances in the opening period to keep his team in it. All things considered, Reimer said he felt good throughout the game.
"Obviously, when you come back there's some aches and pains and stuff but I was able to get through the game and felt like I could do most everything," Reimer said.
Dumba's power-play blast from the right circle sailed past Reimer's outstretched glove at 9:24 of the second period. Center Charlie Coyle and defenseman Jared Spurgeon assisted on Dumba's third of the season and first in 11 games.
"I want to look at the replay again to see what happened because it looked like she was rolling a little bit and may have moved," Reimer said. "Whatever the case, he's got a great shot and I was set up for it and it just beat me."
In a game that got off to a fairly sloppy start with multiple turnovers and four icings in less than four minutes, Reimer did not have to wait long for his first test. Left winger Zach Parise's slap shot from the left faceoff dot less than 30 seconds after the puck drop was easily gobbled up by Reimer.
"The first couple minutes when you first get in there you kind of break the game down and you try and get a feel for it a little bit," Reimer said. "You come into it with just the mindset that you want to compete and do whatever you can to get in front of the biscuit."
The shot was the first of a dozen Minnesota peppered Reimer with in the period's first 13:21, during which time Toronto managed just three shots on Dubnyk.
Another prime Minnesota scoring opportunity was thwarted by Toronto defenseman Roman Polak, who got a stick on Coyle's wraparound attempt with 4:30 to go in the first.
Dubnyk stopped 13 consecutive Toronto shots in a stretch spanning the first two periods in which his own team failed to register one shot.
"I just tried to relax a little bit and keep things small," Dubnyk said. "When things aren't always going your way, you start to kind of slide toward thinking about winning the game and the end result of the game and you get away from just right down to just being set and pushing and stopping, having those feet set. I always try to get back to that, and I was able to do that the last couple of games. It felt good."
NOTES: Toronto G James Reimer, sidelined 10 days due to a groin injury, started for the first time since a Nov. 23 home loss to Boston. ... Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson was selected by Toronto in the 1990 draft and skated in 233 games with the Maple Leafs (1994-99). ... Maple Leafs C Tyler Bozak skated in his 400th NHL game Thursday. ... Toronto LW Joffrey Lupul missed his third consecutive game due to a lower-body injury. ... Minnesota C Mikko Koivu's shot deflected into Toronto D Dion Phaneuf's face in the second period. Phaneuf skated off slowly and stayed in.
Top Game Performances
Toronto |
|
Minnesota |
N/A |
Points |
Mathew Dumba 1 |
N/A |
Goals |
Mathew Dumba 1 |
N/A |
Assists |
Charlie Coyle 1 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Mathew Dumba 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
James Reimer .964 |
Save Percentage |
Devan Dubnyk 1.000 |
James Reimer 27 |
Saves |
Devan Dubnyk 28 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Toronto
|
28 |
0 |
0-2 |
2-3 |
6 |
29 |
Minnesota
|
28 |
1 |
1-3 |
2-2 |
4 |
29 |
Upcoming Games
-
Minnesota will play their next game at home against Colorado. The Wild have a W/L % of .615 after a win and .455 after a loss.
-
Toronto will play their next game on the road against St. Louis. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .375 after a win and .278 after a loss.