In St Paul, the Minnesota Wild were relentless on Monday night, thumping the Montreal Canadiens, 8-2.
The disappointing news for the Wild was Cam Talbot, who returned to the lineup after missing five games for an injury.
Talbot made 14 saves into the middle frame, he left the ice with and apparent injury.
“He tweaked the same injury, but not the same spot,” Wild head coach Dean Evason said. “Not serious, but why put him back in? That was our thought process. He definitely could’ve went.
“You’re always concerned. Let’s see how he comes out of it tomorrow.”
Kaapo Kahkonen made five saves and yielded one goal in relief.
Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick were the only goal goal scorers for the Habs.
“Throw that one right out the window,” the Canadiens’ Josh Anderson said. “Obviously, every single guy in that locker room knows we need (to be) better. I know it’s been a long road trip and whatnot, and for the last three games, I thought, you know, that our game was there. We were finding ways to get a point and coming together. I know that we’ve been giving up a lot of scoring chances, but tonight there’s no exception. You got to find a way even when you’re tired and things like that, and we just left both our goalies out to dry.”
Montreal fell to 8-26-7.
“We need to really be having everyone at the top of their game to give ourselves a chance, and tonight we didn’t have that,” Montreal head coach Dominique Ducharme said. ” They were much better than us.”
Nico Sturm, Matt Boldy, Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Connor Dewar, and Jared Spurgeon all scored goals and multi-point efforts in the thrashing.
The Wild improved to 25-10-3, and are 6-0-1 in the last seven.
Hoffman staked the Canadiens to a 1-0 lead, but Sprong, Marcus Foligno, and Dewar scored for a 3-1 lead for the Wild.
“I’ve kind of taken pride in my whole career I think,” Dewar said. “Every time you see me play, I’m a better player, every day. That’s the way I want to try.”
Jordie Benn and Matt Boldy also scored for the Wild.
“Every line, every line can play,” Benn said. “Obviously, you got your top lines that are going to eat up a lot of minutes, and those guys that slide in at three and four are eating up some good minutes, and you can tell. They’re putting up points and playing really well.”
Cayden Primeau got the start and made it through the second period, making 27 saves. He got the hook in the second intermission.
Michael McNiven made four saves in his NHL debut.
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