Postgame: Many solid efforts during the Wild's latest road win

Happy Daylight Savings Night. Don't forget to spring forward.

Good road win for the Wild tonight against a very depleted Montreal Canadiens opponent.

4-1 victors here at the Bell Centre coupled with the Avalanche coughing up a 2-0 lead in Winnipeg and losing in regulation. That means the Wild jumps back into eighth. The Wild has played one fewer game and that evens up Tuesday when the Wild plays in Ottawa. So a Wild win, and the Wild would gain a little edge on the Avs.

Steam of consciousness blog seems like a good idea tonight, and as always, please go to startribune.com/wild for the final game story, the notebook on John Torchetti laying down the law and also sending a message to Jason Zucker and my Sunday Insider, which is a Russo's Rants Q and A.

Where to start?

-- Mikael Granlund: Two goals tonight for the first time in his career, one on the power play, to hit the 10-goal mark for the first time in his career (yes, obviously, he has bigger aspirations and so does the Wild for him). Two quick shots, too. In two recent games, Granlund got pucks in similar spots and didn't get quick shots off. He instead corralled the puck and wasn't able to score in Philly, and I think, the home game against Edmonton if I remember correctly.

"Granny's just got to start shooting the puck some more and wanting to attack off the rush and keeping it in a shooting angle getting over the blue line," said coach John Torchetti.

Torchetti wants him to have a "shoot-first mentality" because he is "a great shooter."

Reminds me of what Jacques Lemaire and Todd Richards … and Mike Yeo used to say about Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

"He has to understand shooting off the rush is a good thing, especially if it's an even rush. If we have numbers, then he can do what he does best. If he wants to curl up and make a play or try to beat a guy one on one, that's OK in those situations. When they're level plays, you want to get pucks to the net."

-- Thomas Vanek: If you read my blog, I said he may be on notice. Torchetti and Vanek have met, and he apparently had a ridiculous practice Friday in terms of battle and work ethic. Tonight, it was clear early he came to play. He was a net-front menace and battled all game behind the net.

He was rewarded with two assists on the Granlund goals.

-- Marco Scandella: The Montreal native was real good tonight in front of tons of friends and family. He went out to the ice lid-less for the first time in pregame warmups because the "boys" wanted him, too.

He followed it up by being on the ice for the first three Wild goals and getting the simple shot on the power play that led to the Granlund goal. Only on the power play because Mike Reilly was scratched and Jason Pominville's hurt, Torchetti said the Wild could not have drawn it up simpler. Shot on net, numbers at the net, Vanek and Nino Niederreiter causing havoc and boom, Granlund in open space and burying it.

-- Devan Dubnyk: Pretty, pretty funny tonight on a number of fronts. He has been a little miffed with the beat writers (not in a mean way though) for making a big deal of his rough start the other night vs. the Blues, so when the first question was about bouncing back, he said with a chuckle, "It's amazing. You guys are the only ones worried about the last game. That was like a week ago."

Dubnyk said he was only concerned about getting his timing back after not playing in six days because he was sick the other day and didn't play vs. the Oilers. Then, to top it off, he didn't see a puck the first 7:40 of the game. That save was a great one and he rolled from there, giving up one goal off a rebound but stopping 30 shots, including all 14 he saw in the third period. That was a period Torchetti wasn't delighted with because his guys sat back too much. He said they weren't instructed to do that and said it was a natural reaction being up two goals and needing the win so bad, but he said he would discuss this with the team at Monday's practice.

But Dubnyk was real good. Read the game for a funny anecdote tonight regarding the fact that Dubnyk was almost forced to scoreboard watch the Avalanche.

-- Alex Galchenyuk: The Wild did a great job defending him tonight. He had two shots and was hardly noticeable like Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty. Torchetti threw the Mikko Koivu line and defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon out against Galchenyuk for much of the night, although Erik Haula's line was out there, too.

Niederreiter was real good tonight, too. Just a madman down low and finished with a goal and assist.

-- Winning on the road: Since home wins are a rarity these days, the Wild knows how crucial the road will be this final sprint to the finish.

One year after having a league-best 15-2-1 road record in the second half, the Wild opened this three-game trip by improving to 6-2 on the road under Torchetti.

That's huge considering this team is 2-8-3 at home since Dec. 28.

"We're still on the road here for a little bit, but we've got to take that game home with us, too," Torchetti said. "We liked our game tonight and now we have to build it into Ottawa. Everyone's committed to playing a good road game and not trying to look for the pretty play."

Added Dubnyk, "I don't know why we're better on the road than at home. The way we play on the road is just simple, not trying to impress anybody. We play hard defensively and we get big goals from guys at the right times. That's what we were doing last year and what we're starting to do this year. We have to get back to doing it on the road and at home. It's something we're going to have to figure it out."

That's it for now. The Wild is off Sunday. Barring news, no blog. Talk to you after practice Monday in Ottawa.