The Wild enjoyed its first trip to Raleigh in almost four years exactly. A little hoops, a nice dinner and two points.
It wasn't the prettiest game of the Wild's season, but the Wild played plenty of pretty games early in the season against L.A., Anaheim, Nashville and Toronto and didn't grab the full two-point allotment.
So, as they say in the biz, they'll take it.
3-2 shootout winners against Carolina. The Wild entered 0-3 in shootouts and 0 for 7 in shootout shooters this season. That blemish disappeared tonight when Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville scored career shootout goals No. 33, 31 and 19, respectively, to ruin Justin Peters' night. The kid has given up eight shootout goals in 11 attempts in his career.
Parise said somebody (probably goalie coach Bob Mason) radioed from atop prior to the shootout that Peters bites on the fake. Parise deked and deked until Peters was faked out of his breezers.
The goals came after the Wild killed off a 67-second 4-on-3 disadvantage to end overtime. Boneheaded play by the Hurricanes as they much to the chagrin of their moaning fans working the puck astonishingly for 30 or 35 seconds on the delayed penalty.
"If it were me, I would have thrown it right on net and tried to get a whistle and get a 1:40 4-on-3," Parise said. "We were all on the bench confused why they would do that."
In regulation, Pominville scored a breakaway goal after he shrewdly read a blocked shot and took off in the neutral zone. Ryan Suter indeed blocked the shot and sprung Pominville for a breakaway goal, the 200th goal of his career. He now leads the team with 11 and has 7 in his last 7 games. He has 14 goals in his career vs. the Canes.