Minnesota 2, Calgary 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Where: Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Referees:
T.J. Luxmore, Wes McCauley
Linesmen:
Steve Barton, Ryan Galloway
Attendance:
18767
By The Sports Xchange
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- If Minnesota Wild players got paid extra for overtime, and shootouts, they'd have significant extra money for holiday shopping these days.
Chris Stewart and Mikael Granlund scored in a shootout on Tuesday, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames. It was their third straight victory, all of which have happened beyond the 60-minute mark.
The Wild (16-11-3) got a regulation goal from Matt Cullen and 16 saves from backup goalie Alex Stalock. Devan Dubnyk started the game in goal for Minnesota but left with an injury.
"It's amazing how many times a backup goalie comes in a game and shuts the other team down," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who said he expects to know more about Dubnyk's health on Wednesday. "I'm amazed. You get a 3-0 lead or something and the other team changes goalies and usually they never get another goal."
Calgary (16-12-3) got a regulation goal from Micheal Ferland and 21 saves from goalie Mike Smith but saw its two-game win streak snapped. Johnny Gaudreau had the only shootout goal for the Flames, who have earned at least a point in four straight, their longest such streak of the season. The Flames were 0-for-4 on the power play.
"You get four cracks there, you want to take advantage. And I didn't think that was good enough," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "Our specialty teams, the looks they got on their power play, I didn't like those either. I thought we played well tonight. I thought we were the better team for most of the minutes, but our specialty teams weren't good enough."
The Wild had one of their slowest starts of the season, needing more than half of the first period just to register a shot on goal, but still emerged with a lead after 20 minutes. The Flames had a 10-1 advantage in shots and got a pair of power plays before Cullen backhanded in a shot during a scramble in front of Smith.
"We were kind of on our heels," said Cullen, after the Wild returned from road games in Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose. "Sometimes that happens when you come off the West Coast swing. We just had a hard time getting our legs going, but I thought that we dug down when we needed it."
Dubnyk turned aside all 10 Calgary shots in the first period but was not on the ice or the bench at the start of the second.
While Stalock took over in goal, the Wild announced that Dubnyk had a lower-body injury that kept him out of the remainder of the game. Boudreau said he knew from the first media timeout that Dubnyk was struggling, and relayed the message that Dubnyk could come off the ice at any time.
Ferland finally solved Stalock with 63 seconds left in the middle period, blasting a rising shot from the blue line that found its way through a crowd, deflecting off Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin and beating the goalie high on the glove side.
Ferland had a wide open net to shoot at in the third period after a cross-ice pass from Gaudreau, but his shot hit the crossbar, then deflected out and hit referee T.J. Luxmore in the head. Luxmore left the ice, and Wes McCauley served as the lone referee for several minutes in the third.
"It was a great play by Johnny and just one of those bounces you wish would just go in," Ferland said. "I couldn't have been more wide open and Johnny made a great play and I should have put that in."
NOTES: Wild C Matt Cullen's first-period goal was the 250th of his career. He is in his 20th NHL season and signed as a free agent with the Wild last summer after winning the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. ... Flames RW Jaromir Jagr missed his fourth consecutive game while battling a lower-body injury. The 45-year-old has been skating in practice but did not make the trip to Minnesota. ... G Devan Dubnyk made his 100th appearance in a Minnesota uniform. When he left the game due to injury, Connor Beaupre, the son of former Minnesota North Stars goalie Don Beaupre and an assistant coach for a Twin Cities high school team, suited up as an emergency backup and was available for the third period.
Top Game Performances
| Calgary |
|
Minnesota |
|
Micheal Ferland 1 |
Points |
Matt Cullen 1 |
|
Micheal Ferland 1 |
Goals |
Matt Cullen 1 |
|
Johnny Gaudreau 1 |
Assists |
Joel Eriksson Ek 1 |
|
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Mike Smith .955 |
Save Percentage |
Devan Dubnyk 1.000 |
|
Mike Smith 21 |
Saves |
Alex Stalock 16 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Calgary
|
27 |
1 |
0-3 |
2-2 |
4 |
23 |
| Minnesota
|
22 |
2 |
0-2 |
3-3 |
6 |
29 |
Upcoming Games
-
Minnesota will play their next game at home against Toronto. The Wild have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .571 after a loss.
-
Calgary will play their next game at home against San Jose. The Flames have a W/L % of .412 after a win and .643 after a loss.
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