Panthers Look To Tame The Wild
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SUNRISE (AP) -- Wild coach Mike Yeo took away mostly positives despite Minnesota having its win streak snapped the last time out, but Zach Parise remains concerned about the club's power play.
Minnesota could have a tough time scoring in any situation if Roberto Luongo is in net for the host Florida Panthers on Monday night.
The Wild (11-8-0) had 15 goals, including four on the power play, during a four-game winning streak, but went 0 for 3 with the advantage in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.
Minnesota scored on just two of 44 power-play chances through its first 14 contests and ranks near the bottom of the league with a 9.7 percent conversion rate.
"We aren't supporting each other very well (on the power play)," said Parise, who scored the game's first goal Saturday. "It's a lot of sitting around waiting for someone else to do something. We just stand around and look at each other. It has kind of been a theme for us."
Despite those issues, Yeo was pleased with the overall effort, especially defensively. Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves in his first loss in four starts, a stretch during which he has a 1.60 goals-against average.
"We gave up two goals against the team that scored the most goals in the league," Yeo said. "We gave ourselves a great chance to win this hockey game. We just needed to find a way to score another goal."
Luongo has been pretty stingy lately as well. He turned away 48 shots before Florida fell 3-2 to Nashville in a shootout Saturday and has stopped 76 of the last 80 he's faced.
The Panthers (7-5-6) earned at least a point for the fifth time in six games (3-1-2), getting goals from Rocco Grimaldi - the first of the rookie's career - and Nick Bjugstad 12 seconds apart in the final minute of the third period to force overtime.
"Louie was the star of the game and gave us a chance," coach Gerard Gallant said. "We never quit."
Luongo has faced at least 30 shots nine times this season for the Panthers, who rank in the bottom third of the league with an average of 31.1 allowed per game.
"It's the type of game I enjoy," Luongo said. "I was able to get in the game early, get a good feeling going. Unfortunately both of their goals were not really shots on net - they both deflected off our guys - but we battled in the last minute to tie it up, which was huge for us."
Bjugstad has five goals and three assists during a four-game point streak after totaling two goals and an assist through his first 14. He was pleased with Florida's final rush Saturday, but he also realized the surge came too late.
"We didn't play like we wanted to for awhile there," Bjugstad said. "We've got to play more consistent throughout the whole game."
Luongo is 5-1-1 with a 1.13 GAA and three shutouts in his last seven starts against the Wild, but he hasn't faced them since Vancouver traded him to Florida last season.
Kuemper has never faced the Panthers, who have lost three of the last four meetings. Parise and Jason Pominville scored as the Wild won 3-2 last November to earn a split of the season series.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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