Zach Parise Scores Twice, Wild Beat Red Wings, 6-3
PATRICK DONNELLY
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Zach Parise scored twice and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves to help the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Wild beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Sunday.
Charlie Coyle added a goal and an assist, and the Wild scored three power-play goals in four chances. Minnesota leads Chicago by five points and has played two fewer games than the Blackhawks.
Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist for Detroit, Henrik Zetterberg and Andreas Athanasiou also scored, and Jared Coreau made 23 saves. The Red Wings have lost four straight and have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
Parise made it 4-2 early in the third off a scramble behind the net. Coreau tried to clear the puck around the boards, but Jason Pominville intercepted it and quickly fed it out front to Parise, who punched it into the open net.
Parise capped the scoring on the power play midway through the third period. Coreau deflected Jared Spurgeon's slap shot behind the net, but Eric Staal knocked it in front of the net and Parise whacked it out of the air for his 13th of the season.
Minnesota struck first on Mikael Granlund's power-play goal with 6:59 remaining in the first period. Mikko Koivu fired a shot from the right faceoff circle that skidded through traffic. Granlund's tip attempt trickled off the left post, but he got a second chance and poked it in with a two-handed lunge for his 16th goal of the season.
Nino Niederreiter pushed the lead to 2-0 less than 3 minutes later with his team-leading 19th goal, also on the power play. Koivu fed the puck across the front of the crease and Niederreiter buried it into an open net.
Detroit cut the lead to 2-1 at 6:56 of the second period as Anthony Mantha took advantage of a missed defensive assignment to score his 13th of the season. At the end of a long shift for the Wild, Xavier Ouellet found a wide-open Mantha in front of the net, and he tucked the puck between Dubnyk's pads.
Charlie Coyle restored Minnesota's two-goal lead with a breakaway goal at 14:14 of the second. Jason Pominville flung an outlet pass that Coyle corralled as he danced around defenseman Nick Jensen. Coyle then deked twice and fired a wrist shot over Coreau's left shoulder.
NOTES: Detroit LW Thomas Vanek, a former University of Minnesota star who spent the last two seasons with the Wild, was scratched from the lineup after injuring his ankle Saturday in Columbus. ... Minnesota D Matt Dumba missed the game with a lower-body injury he suffered in Friday's win against Tampa Bay. Dumba had played in all 55 of the Wild's games this season. ... Wild D Gustav Olofsson earned his first two career NHL points with assists on the goals by Granlund and Coyle. ... Coyle snapped a 16-game scoring drought.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: Detroit returns home to face the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
Wild: Minnesota reaches the halfway point of its eight-game homestand Tuesday when it hosts the Anaheim Ducks.
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