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Wild 3, Hurricanes 2 - SO

Minnesota and Carolina battle evenly until the home team falls once again in a shootout

By Bob Wage
James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild battled back and forth in a pretty even game until the visitors dominated the shootout and took the victory, 3-2 in front of 14,704 at the PNC Arena on Saturday night.

Jason Pominville scored the opening goal on a breakaway and also scored the shootout goal which ended things to lead the Wild.

Justin Peters played well until he allowed all three goals in the shootout, to Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, and Pominville.

Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller tried to mix things for this one.  He led off the shootout with Riley Nash, who hit the post, then followed up with new call up Chris Terry, who made his backhander.  Alexander Semin would have been the third shooter, but it never got that far.

Pominville got the scoring started just 3:33 into the game when he cheated a bit and got behind the defense of Jay Harrison and Ryan Murphy to skate in alone on Peters.

Ryan Murphy answered for the home team on a shot between the blueline and the slot that fooled goalie Josh Harding, just 1:20 later.  Brett Bellemore and Peters earned the assists on the play.

The score remained tied until Jiri Tlusty got a stick on a deflected Alexander Semin pass and beat Harding to give the Canes a 2-1 lead, 7:14 into the second.

But Justin Fontaine tied it up again a couple minutes later when he deflected a shot in the net right after a powerplay had expired.

Both teams played a cautious third period as the Wild got six shots on goal while the Canes only got five.

The Hurricanes had a great opportunity to finish the game as they had a man advantage with a minute plus left in overtime, but they were unable to generate a goal or any good chances from the powerplay.

They will next face the Avs at home on Tuesday night.

Game Notes:

  • Justin Faulk had a team high 25:27 of ice time for the Canes.  Ryan Suter played 35:28 for the Wild.  (That is not a typo).  Tuomo Ruutu had a team low 10:28. 
  • The Hurricanes had 29 shots on goal, led by Eric Staal with four.  The Wild had 30.
  • The team had 18 blocked shots and were led by Ryan Murphy and Manny Malhotra with three each.
  • Jordan Staal had a team high four hits.
  • The Canes are 0-3 on the shootout this season.
  • The powerplay was 0-3.