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 Defenseman Matt Dumba scored the game's lone goal, and Devan Dubnyk
made 28 saves to win a goaltending battle in the Minnesota Wild's
1-0 victory over the Maple Leafs.
The Wild were clinging to the lead with four minutes to go when
coach Mike Yeo challenged an apparent goal by Toronto center Peter
Holland. The Wild won the challenge after officials ruled Holland
was inches offside entering the Minnesota zone.
"(Minnesota defenseman Ryan) Suter made a good play, he kind of
bumped me there to give me that little extra nudge offside," Holland
said. "I did my best to keep my leg onside, like I said, again it
was close, and the replay obviously showed that it was offside."
Dubnyk recorded his NHL-leading fourth shutout of the season and won
his 13th game of the season two nights after allowing one goal to
the Chicago Blackhawks.
"One goal against, that's pretty good in two games," Yeo said.
"Toronto was doing a pretty good job as far as net-front play and as
far as throwing pucks there. A lot of traffic in front. I thought he
was picking up those pucks extremely well tonight."
Toronto dropped to 0-5-2 when playing on consecutive nights this
season. Coach Mike Babcock thought the Maple Leafs played well a
night after a 6-1 loss in Winnipeg.
"We had lots of opportunities, they didn't have many, and I thought
we did a good job," Babcock said. "Unfortunately, we didn't score.
I'm a big believer you just stick with the process, do good things
and good things will happen to you over time."
Toronto goaltender James Reimer shook off the rust from a four-game
layoff due to injury and displayed the form which earned him a 2.07
goals-against average and a .934 save percentage in 15 prior
appearances.
Reimer, who made 27 saves in his return, withstood a barrage of
Minnesota scoring chances in the opening period to keep his team in
it. All things considered, Reimer said he felt good throughout the
game.
"Obviously, when you come back there's some aches and pains and
stuff but I was able to get through the game and felt like I could
do most everything," Reimer said.
Dumba's power-play blast from the right circle sailed past Reimer's
outstretched glove at 9:24 of the second period. Center Charlie
Coyle and defenseman Jared Spurgeon assisted on Dumba's third of the
season and first in 11 games.
"I want to look at the replay again to see what happened because it
looked like she was rolling a little bit and may have moved," Reimer
said. "Whatever the case, he's got a great shot and I was set up for
it and it just beat me."
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In a game that got off to a fairly sloppy start with multiple
turnovers and four icings in less than four minutes, Reimer did not
have to wait long for his first test. Left winger Zach Parise's slap
shot from the left faceoff dot less than 30 seconds after the puck
drop was easily gobbled up by Reimer.
"The first couple minutes when you first get in there you kind of
break the game down and you try and get a feel for it a little bit,"
Reimer said. "You come into it with just the mindset that you want
to compete and do whatever you can to get in front of the biscuit."
The shot was the first of a dozen Minnesota peppered Reimer with in
the period's first 13:21, during which time Toronto managed just
three shots on Dubnyk.
Another prime Minnesota scoring opportunity was thwarted by Toronto
defenseman Roman Polak, who got a stick on Coyle's wraparound
attempt with 4:30 to go in the first.
Dubnyk stopped 13 consecutive Toronto shots in a stretch spanning
the first two periods in which his own team failed to register one
shot.
"I just tried to relax a little bit and keep things small," Dubnyk
said. "When things aren't always going your way, you start to kind
of slide toward thinking about winning the game and the end result
of the game and you get away from just right down to just being set
and pushing and stopping, having those feet set. I always try to get
back to that, and I was able to do that the last couple of games. It
felt good."
NOTES: Toronto G James Reimer, sidelined 10 days due to a groin
injury, started for the first time since a Nov. 23 home loss to
Boston. ... Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson was selected by
Toronto in the 1990 draft and skated in 233 games with the Maple
Leafs (1994-99). ... Maple Leafs C Tyler Bozak skated in his 400th
NHL game Thursday. ... Toronto LW Joffrey Lupul missed his third
consecutive game due to a lower-body injury. ... Minnesota C Mikko
Koivu's shot deflected into Toronto D Dion Phaneuf's face in the
second period. Phaneuf skated off slowly and stayed in.
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