ST. PAUL, Minn. — Eric Staal and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and assist, and Devan Dubnyk stopped 25 shots as the Minnesota Wild beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on Wednesday night.
Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker also scored for Minnesota, which enters the All-Star break with three wins in four games. The streak comes in the midst of a season-high seven-game homestand that continues after this weekend’s All-Star break.
Detroit’s Filip Zadina was credited with two goals, his first NHL multi-goal game, but both came on deflections off a Wild player. Jimmy Howard had 29 saves for the Red Wings, who will head into their break having lost six in a row overall and eight straight on the road.
Dubnyk, starting for the first time in four games, was rarely challenged but a bit unlucky.
Detroit got the first goal of the game 3:08 in after Zadina’s cross-ice pass to Tyler Bertuzzi deflected off the stick of Minnesota centre Joel Eriksson Ek, sending the puck up and over Dubnyk’s shoulder.
The Wild answered just over a minute later when Matt Dumba’s point shot was blocked by Howard, but the puck dropped straight to the ice and Greenway was in position to swat the puck behind him into the net.
Zadina scored again with 3:21 left in the first period after his shot from the circle was saved by Dubnyk. The puck bounced off Dubnyk and defenceman Jared Spurgeon before ricocheting back under the goaltender, who knocked it into the net.
They were breaks not often seen this season by a Detroit team that will go into the break having the fewest wins, points and goals scored per game while also allowing the most goals per game.
It was the 15th time in 51 games the Red Wings held a lead after the first period.
The advantage didn’t last long. Minnesota pressed to open the second and tied it 1:12 into the period as Zuccarello followed his own shot and batted the rebound out of the air past Howard.
Zucker scored on a breakaway a minute later to take the lead and Staal, who was honoured before the game for scoring his 1,00th point earlier this season, finished the scoring with his 17th.
NOTES
Detroit recalled D Dennis Cholowski from Grand Rapids of the AHL before the game. He took the lineup spot of Mike Green, who was scratched after sustaining a lower-body injury in the previous game at Colorado. Cholowksi also took Green’s place on the team’s top power-play unit. … C Frans Nielsen was also scratched with a lower-body injury sustained against Colorado. … Minnesota C Mikko Koivu returned to the lineup after missing two games with an illness. Ryan Donato was scratched in place of Koivu. … Red Wings C Dylan Larkin assisted on the first goal and now has four goals and eight assists in the past 11 games, equaling Bertuzzi for the team scoring lead with 36 points. … The Wild are 14-6-4 at home this season.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: At the New York Rangers on Jan. 31.
Wild: Host Boston on Feb. 1.
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Brian Hall, The Associated Press