Monday, March 24, 2014
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Moulson lifts Wild past Wings in OT

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[March 24, 2014]  DETROIT — The Minnesota Wild just kept doing good things, and the result finally went in their favor.

Left winger Matt Moulson's goal 2:15 into overtime gave Minnesota a 4-3, come-from-behind win over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday night.

The Wild trailed 2-0 after the first period despite outplaying the Red Wings and outshooting them 12-6.

"I was really impressed at the way they were able to stick with it," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said of his players. "Obviously, there's a tendency to get frustrated and go away from our game, but they stuck with it.

Moulson tipped in a pass from defenseman Jonas Brodin — who was along the right wing boards — for his 21st goal and the game-winner.

"(Brodin) showed great patience. He kind of looked over and made eye contact with me," Moulson said. "I went to the net. He couldn't have put it in a better place."

The Wild lost 3-2 to the Red Wings on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn.

Both teams are in the seventh playoff spot in tight races their respective conferences — Minnesota in the West, and Detroit in the East.


Center Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist, and right winger Jason Pominville and left winger Zach Parise also scored for Minnesota (37-24-11). Center Mikko Koivu had two assists, and goalie Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 13 shots.

"It was frustrating being down 2-0 and how good we were playing," Parise said. "But we thought we were doing some really good things."

Right winger Gustav Nyquist, who scored twice to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games, and left winger Tomas Tatar provided the goals for Detroit (33-24-14). Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made 21 saves.

"I don't think we were skating toward the middle and putting pressure on their D," Nyquist said. "They could break out pretty fast, I thought, so that was an issue, which is why we didn't get enough zone time in their zone. We weren't skating good enough, I thought."

Tatar tied it 3-3 with 8:17 remaining in the third with a shot from the right circle off the rush. It was his 16th goal.

"I just thought we had a great response after they got the two," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We came out and got another one to get right back to even and, like I said, got ourselves a huge point. We would've liked to get the next one, (but) we didn't."

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Coyle's goal 4:33 into the third period tied the game at 2. He pushed the puck into an empty net off a goal-mouth scramble. It was Coyle's ninth goal of the season and second in two games. Parise gave the Wild the lead just 1:45 later when he poked one past Howard for his 24th goal.

Pominville's power-play goal with 8:03 left in the second period put Minnesota on the scoreboard and made it 2-1. His 27th goal of the season came on a one-time slap shot from the high slot area. The goal was scored only 10 seconds after Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey went off for interference.

Detroit right winger Daniel Alfredsson hit the goal post with 8:30 left in the second period.

Nyquist scored both of his goals in the first period to give Detroit its 2-0 lead.

His first goal came on the power play with 6:15 left in the period. Nyquist put in a rebound from the left circle. His second, and 23rd of the season, was the result of a breakaway. He made a move and slid a backhand shot past Bryzgalov.

Nyquist has an NHL-leading 18 goals since Jan. 20.

NOTES: Detroit C Joakim Andersson returned after missing six games with a broken foot. ... Wild G Niklas Backstrom missed his 10th game due to an undisclosed injury. ... Detroit veteran RW Todd Bertuzzi didn't play because of the flu. ... Minnesota D Keith Ballard missed his fourth game with a lower-body injury. ... The Red Wings sent RW Teemu Pulkkinen to their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich. ... Minnesota LW Matt Cooke played most of his junior hockey with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League. Windsor is across the Detroit River from Detroit.

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

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