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The Minnesota Wild held strong in its defensive zone to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 Thursday at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens (15-18-3) dominated the second and third period, but Niklas Backstrom and the Wild defense stopped every chance it had.
The Wild (17-14-3) held on defensively by blocking shots and breaking up odd-man rushes. The best breakup was a 2-on-1 led by speedster Michael Camalleri that Marek Zidlicky caught from behind and picked his pocket to turn the play around in the third period.
Greg Zanon made his presence felt with a terrific breakup of a 3-on-1 rush with his glove hand while sliding in front of the Canadien player. He also added to his team-leading 84 blocked shots.
Robbie Earl gave the Wild a 1-0 lead for just the third time in the last 15 games when he found a small opening between Carey Price’s legs. Kim Johnsson chipped the puck up the boards passed the Canadiens defender to give Earl the lane to the net for the assist.
Less than one minute later, Andrei Kostitsyn tied the game with a backhand shot to the top shelf over the glove shoulder of Backstrom. He received a pass just inside the Wild’s blue line from Scott Gomez.
The Wild scored the eventual game-winning goal on the power play. It is the Wild’s first power play goal in 20 opportunities that spanned over five games. Mikko Koivu redirected a pass from Martin Havlat past Price. Andrew Brunette also assisted on the goal.
After a scoreless second period, Cal Clutterbuck was the recipient of a fortunate bounce off the backboard to give the Wild a 3-1 lead at the 11:47 mark of the third period. He banged home a rebound off a shot by Chuck Kobasew. Nick Schultz led the rush to get the second assist on the goal.
The Wild improved to 7-0-1 this season when leading after two periods.
The Canadiens have now lost five straight games, but if it continues playing like it did Thursday it will go on a streak like the Wild are currently on.
No. 3 Star: Greg Zanon. The Wild defenseman was terrific in the defensive zone by blocking seven shots and breaking up scoring chances.
No. 2 Star: Cal Clutterbuck. The Wild wing scored an insurance goal midway through the third period and recorded a game-high 10 hits to move closer to the league lead.
No. 1 Star: Niklas Backstrom. The Wild goaltender stopped 30-of-31 shots. He played his best in the second and third period, when the Canadiens were applying heavy pressure.
