In St Paul, the Wild grabbed a 3-0 lead on Saturday night over the Carolina Hurricanes, and then withstood a third period push, to take a 3-2 win.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and assist in the win.
“We knew it’s gonna be an exciting game,” Fiala said. “They’re a good team, but so are we…[we expect] to win every night. Doesn’t really matter who we play, and tonight was just a good challenge for us. We were just there.
“If they’re contenders, so are we. That’s what we feel like.”
Minnesota improved to 29-11-3.
“Everything was quick, quick, quick,” Wild head coach Dean Evason said. “It was a fun game to be part of. Got a little intense or felt like it was kind of slipping away on us at the end, but we caught it and certainly, our goaltender caught it before all of us did, not only at the end but the start as well. [Talbot] was great, kept us in a spot where we could get the job done at the end.”
Cam Talbot made 37 saves for the Minnesota win.
Andrei Svechnikov hit for a pair of goals for the Canes in the third period to make the game more interesting.
“The easy thing to do is say we lost three of four and that’s bad, but that’s not how I’m looking at it…Obviously, the outcomes are not acceptable but there’s a lot of good that went on,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
“At the end of the day, you gotta win the games, got to find a way. When you play a pretty good game and create enough to win, those are tough.”
Carolina dropped to 32-11-3.
Frederick Gaudreau and Kirill Kaprizov also scored for the Wild.
“There’s nothing like putting a puck in the net. That’s the best feeling since we were kids, so it’s fun to do that,” Gaudreau said. “But my belief is always the same, just to bring the little details and to make sure I don’t cheat the game and play a solid game. Of course, when you’re not rewarded, like you were at the beginning of the season, then it can be tough. But I just keep believing that if you do the good things, it’s going to come your way and it’s fun when it happens.”
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves in the Hurricanes loss.
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