Wild post shootout win over Senators
Published 3:27 am Wednesday, March 4, 2015
ST. PAUL — It took a shootout for the NHL’s hottest team to finally crack the league’s hottest goalie.
Charlie Coyle scored the winner in a shootout, Matt Dumba had two goals in regulation and the Minnesota Wild beat Andrew Hammond and the Senators 3-2 on Tuesday night to stop Ottawa’s five-game winning streak.
Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves and turned away Mike Hoffman in the fifth round of the shootout to secure Minnesota’s 15th victory in 20 games.
“I really wanted to make that last one, so it felt good, especially with the points being as important as they are right now,” Dubnyk said.
Hammond showed why he’s called “The Hamburgler” by making 36 saves for Ottawa, but he lost for the first time in six NHL starts. Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan scored for the Senators.
Dubnyk was the NHL’s first star of the month for February and is 16-3-1 with the Wild. Hammond was the first star of the week last week and could’ve gotten another win if a bounce or two went Ottawa’s way.
“To salvage points when you get down by two goals in this league is tough to do, so for us to do that shows the resiliency in this room,” Hammond said.
Ottawa controlled play during a power play midway through the third period, but had two shots ring off the post instead of going in for the go-ahead goal.
“Very frustrating, especially when we don’t win. If we would’ve won this game, I wouldn’t care,” Zibanejad said. “Just have to go to the shooting range and work on the shot.”
Dumba scored twice in the second to notch his first career two-goal game and give Minnesota a 2-0 lead at 8:05 of the period.
With the Wild battling injuries — including losing defenseman Nate Prosser after the first period with an illness — Dumba is taking advantage of his opportunities.
“I have confidence putting him on the ice against any matchup, any pairing,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “The way he plays the game, he’s showing he can play some big minutes. He’s giving us a lot right now.”
Minnesota had several opportunities to win in regulation, but kept getting turned away by Hammond.
“He made some big saves in the third where we thought we had him,” Wild forward Zach Parise said.
Coyle’s winner was his second career shootout goal. Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville also scored in the tiebreaker.
The new-look Wild played their first game with right wing Chris Stewart and defenseman Jordan Leopold, both of whom were acquired before Monday’s trade deadline.
Ottawa is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games as it tries to play its way into an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Senators coach Dave Cameron doesn’t think this loss will slow down his team, especially after it fought back from a two-goal deficit.
“You have to respond, so that was a good push-back at the right time, but overall I thought we were pretty good,” Cameron said.
Ryan and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators in the shootout.
After struggling in December and January, Minnesota has played its way back into playoff position.
“I think everyone in this locker room has kind of been on both sides,” Dumba said. “It feels good doing this, so we want to keep this going for sure.”
NOTES: Ottawa G Craig Anderson was activated off injured reserve Sunday and is expected to start Wednesday when the Senators wrap up a five-game trip in Winnipeg. … Yeo said D Marco Scandella had a setback with an undisclosed injury and will miss at least another week. … Also on the Wild injury front: C Ryan Carter (upper body) skated for the first time on his own, D Jared Spurgeon (upper body) could return on Thursday and RW Jason Zucker (collarbone) continues to work off the ice, but is not close to returning.