For a change, the Wild power play helped win a road game.

After entering with one power-play goal on 44 chances in 14 previous road games, the Wild went 2 for 3 tonight at Arizona, the last coming off Zach Parise's slam dunk with 5:53 left in regulation to force overtime en route to a 4-3 shootout win.

Playing against a team that is now winless in nine straight at home, the Wild was forced to play a man short with 17 skaters because Jared Spurgeon left warmups sick. He was actually sick beforehand and tried to take some IV's, but it didn't work. It sounds like he has a similar stomach virus that forced Charlie Coyle to miss a practice last week at Ridder.

Spurgeon's absence coupled with Marco Scandella serving the final game of a two-game suspension really put the Wild in a tough spot tonight. Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin took a lot of the responsibility, logging 33:47 and 31:54, respectively (Brodin's first time over 30 in his regular-season career).

On the second pair, Christian Folin moved to his off side and was paired with Nate Prosser. Justin Falk was paired with Stu Bickel, who was supposed to play forward for injured Ryan Carter, but Bickel only played 10 shifts. So in a lot of ways, the Wild played with 16 skaters.

But after Coyle, who played a strong game despite lots of struggles lately, kept a power play alive, Jason Pominville set up Parise.

Then, in the shootout, Parise and Mikko Koivu each scored their 38th shootout goals for the win. That's a tie for first in the NHL in career shootout goals, and Koivu used the same move he has scored on three times this season (including the preseason) and several times in his career.

I'm planning to write on Koivu for Monday's paper and I'll have another real cool story in Tuesday's paper that you'll want to check out too, I think.

Back to Koivu, he has been real good for two or three weeks. I talked to him about "Angry Mikko," which you know what I mean if you follow me on Twitter, his early season point struggles and leadership.

Jason Zucker had another fine game. He scored on the same breakaway move he scored on in October against Tampa Bay – basically the Koivu shootout move. He also scored with his dad and big bro, Evan, in the crowd. He said it's the first time Evan has seen him play live, and coincidentally, I talked to Evan for my hockey in Vegas column that is running in Sunday's paper. Here's a link.

Suter two assists tonight, four hits, four blocked shots. Brodin, six blocked shots. Folin four blocked shots. Coyle four shots, (eight attempted) two drawn penalties and three hits.

Brodin has been ridiculously good lately. Plus-8 in seven games since returning from the mumps. His plus-14 was tied for fourth among NHL blue-liners. I wrote about Brodin and Coyle in my game notebook.

Yeo praised all the defensemen for stepping up in the absence of Scandella and Spurgeon. First time in the NHL Yeo said he coached a game short a player. He also praised the leadership for helping leading the way after Friday's "stern" message Yeo provided.

Again, the hope is the power play is a start tonight. Parise said it all started with good entries, a net-front presence, a shot mentality and retrieving pucks, all stuff the Wild doesn't do when it doesn't feel good about itself on the power play. He said when you're feeling good, it's instinct.

That's it for me. Just filed for the paper. Short blog, I know, with not a lot of detail about a fair unimpressive game despite the comeback win, but I wasn't in the locker room long after the game because of a problem I had to deal with out of the blue. So apologies, but I need to get going.

The Wild flew back to Minnesota after the game and is off Sunday. I'll blog if there's news. Like I said, I plan to write about Koivu for Monday and a cool story for Tuesday. Kent Youngblood is covering Monday's practice in Minnesota. Matt Cooke, who has missed 20 games, is expected to practice. We'll see if Spurgeon or Carter practice as well.

On the blog, I may not be talking to you next until after the morning skates in Chicago. I'll will be on KFAN at 9:35 a.m. Tuesday when our very own Lavelle E. Neal The Third fills in for P.A.

If the Wild can manage to win at Chicago, it'll be .500 on the road after starting the season 2-6 away from St. Paul.