Bruce Boudreau inserted Chris Stewart into the shootout at just the right time, and the big winger delivered the Wild a valuale 2 points with the 3-2 Shootout winner. Boudreau said that he he wanted to give Stewart a chance to win it and after Devan Dubnyk stopped Jason Spezza, he got his opportunity and Stewy delivered.
With the win the Wild improved their road unbeaten streak to an impressive 12 games going 11-0-1 over that span. Their last road loss was back on December 2nd, a 3-2 loss at Calgary.
The Wild win combined with Blackhawks 5-2 loss to the Lightning has Minnesota two points clear of Chicago and atop the Western Conference Standings with 67 points.
Jason Pominville remained hot with his 8th of the year and a big goal in the shootout as well. Pominville has really elevated his game over the last month. He now has three goals and 10 points in the Wild's last 10 games including two goals and four assists in the last four.
Mikael Granlund extended his point streak to eight games and now has 40 points on the season just four short of his career high set a year ago.
A good win for sure but there are some alarming trends that need to be addressed. The Wild once again let a two goal lead disappear, which is becoming an a bad habit. A team that prides itself on team defense and great goaltending needs to be able to do a better job of not allowing the opponent to get back into the game.
We know that Boudreau wants his team to play more 2-1 3-2 type games, but the fact of the matter is they need to be better at putting their foot on the throat of the opponent and deliver the knockout blow.
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