Minnesota Wild Edge Calgary Flames 1-0 For Second Straight Win

Devan Dubnyk posted his second shutout as a member of the Minnesota Wild and Zach Parise added his team-leading 20th goal of the season as the Wild shutout the Calgary Flames by a final score of 1-0.

Good evening, Wild fans. Devan Dubnyk won this game for us, plain and simple. Don’t get me wrong, Parise’s goal was absolutely marvelous and the team played well as a whole, but Dubnyk won this game. The Wild needed a win to keep its momentum alive and pull back within reasonable range of a playoff spot. Pretty or not, a win is a win.

First Period:

Great road period for the Wild to open the game, although it didn’t start that way. The Flames did really well to lock the Wild up in its own end for the first few minutes, but it didn’t last for long.

Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker had some awesome chances around the 6th minute. One of the best things about the opening period was a strong net-front presence by the Wild. When things go poorly, they don’t take the time to set up plays and they don’t get folks down low to sniff for rebounds. That wasn’t a problem tonight.

Zach Parise, held scoreless against Edmonton on Tuesday, put the Wild on the board first with his 20th of the year. After a Ryan Suter slapshot caromed wide of the net, the Flames picked up the puck and tried to exit the zone, but TJ Brodie gave up the puck to Thomas Vanek. Vanek has a clear shooting lane but made a great heads-up play and gave the puck to Parise low in the left face-off circle. Parise patiently waited to open up Jonas Hiller and fired a low wrister to make it 1-0 Wild at 08:59 of the first period

The Wild turned on the jets and dominated the rest of the period, including a gorgeous shot by Marco Scandella that Hiller just barely got a bead on.

The shot count below doesn’t tell the whole story, as the Flames actually managed 20 shot attempts compared to 24 for the Wild. Suter led all skaters with a Corsi-for of 74% after the first period, if you can believe it.

Shots after one period: Minnesota Wild 14, Calgary Flames 8

Second Period:

Calgary dominated the second period from start to end. First, Mikko Koivu too a penalty for tripping Johnny Gaudreau just 51 seconds in to the period. Luckily, the Minnesota Wild hung on and killed the penalty, minimizing chances for the Flames who had just one shot on goal with the man advantage.

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Calgary fired 10 unanswered shots at Dubnyk in the second period and it took just over 17 minutes for the Wild to respond with a shot on goal. Jason Pominville and Vanek had the only quality chances for the Wild in the second period.

I can’t say enough about Dubnyk in this game. He had an absolutely tremendous second period to keep the Wild in the game. More on him later. Hiller was no slouch either, denying the Wild time after time.

Shots through two periods: Minnesota Wild 24, Calgary Flames 22

Third Period:

A game that stayed fairly even in the second period could have turned in to a rout for the Flames if not for Dubnyk.

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Eyes On Isles

After an early Wild power play in which they registered ZERO shots on goal, Calgary executed a few awesome stretch passes to spring its forwards on breakaways and 3-on-2.

First, Dubnyk Denied Gaudreau on a breakaway with a little glove swagger. Please mark this down as the only time I’ll ever use swagger in a written format.

I love the confidence factor here. Goaltending is about confidence just as much as it’s about physical skill.

Then, he stonewalled Paul Byron with his big leg pads.

There were a ton of offside and icing calls throughout the third period. Zucker had a few really great chances and Mike Yeo briefly reunited the Nino Niederreiter – Coyle – Zucker combo,but Hiller stood tall, much to the malign of my fantasy hockey team.

Hiller went to the bench with 1:45 left to go and Dubnyk made some clutch saves to finish the shutout. Game over, Wild sneak past the Calgary Flames 1-0 in regulation

Final Shots on Goal: Minnesota Wild 32, Calgary Flames 30

Trembley’s Take:

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win. The Wild played a good team game and looked like a cohesive unit, something they don’t do when they’re losing.

Jason Zucker had 5 shots on goal, leading the team in that category. He looked awful frustrated in the third when a few of his quality chances didn’t find the back of the net. He led all Wild skaters with a corsi-for of 63%, so a goal will come for the youngster.

Parise’s team-leading 20th goal marks the 7th season in his career where he’s scored 20+. Vanek earned his 300th career assist on the goal.

Since Joining the Wild, Dubnyk has gone 4-1 in 6 starts with a 1.62 GAA and a 0.931 save percentage. Good for Dubnyk, who may have found his new home. If you Hadn’t heard, Darcy Kuemper had a rough night with the Iowa Wild, so it’s good to see Dubs performing so well.

The Wild is 4-5-1 in its last 10 starts and get a few days off before heading to Vancouver on Sunday. Talk to you then, folks.