Ryan Suter needs another 244 points to catch his uncle, Gary Suter, who racked up 844 in his 17-year NHL career.
Wild extends record home winning streak to 10 as Jared Spurgeon scores twice
Not only is the streak the longest in the NHL this season, but the Wild also secured 20 wins in the second-fewest games in franchise history.
March 25, 2021 at 11:40AM
But Suter isn't ruling out the possibility he closes the gap — not when he and partner Jared Spurgeon continue to set each other up for goals.
"Me and Spurgy keep making magic, you never know," he said.
The two Wild defensive leaders remained catalysts on offense, teaming up for a pair of deflections by Spurgeon after also combining to score in the previous game against the Ducks.
Those two finishes plus a hustle play from rookie Nico Sturm to bury a botched stop by Anaheim goalie Ryan Miller were enough to outlast the Ducks 3-2 Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center and extend the Wild's franchise-record winning streak at home to 10.
Not only is this run the longest in the NHL this season, but the Wild also secured 20 wins in the second-fewest games (31) in franchise history. The 2011-12 team reached 20 in 30 games.
"It's important to find ways to win," Suter said. "Not every night you're gonna have your top guys buzzing, scoring goals at will. For us, to find ways to win right now, it's kind of the dog days of the season and for us to find ways is really important."
This game won't earn any style points, much like the 2-1 victory over Anaheim on Monday, but the Wild persevered. Aside from timely scoring, goaltending was key — with Cam Talbot turning aside 28 shots to sit 6-0 on the season at home.
Playing without Zach Parise, who was placed in the NHL's COVID protocols before the game, the Wild established an early lead when Spurgeon redirected in Suter's shot 7 minutes, 46 seconds in.
Anaheim pulled even on the next shift, a shot from Derek Grant at 8:10 that slid five-hole on Talbot. But with eight seconds to go in the first, Spurgeon made it 2-1 on the power play with another tip off a Suter shot — Suter's 600th career point to become the 41st defenseman (fifth active) to reach the milestone.
"I really didn't have to do much," Spurgeon said. "Sutes just banked them off my stick, and they went in."
After a 26-game goalless skid that dated to last season, Spurgeon now has three goals in his past five games and the Wild power play has converted in back-to-back contests for just the second time this season. Overall, the power play went 1-for-3 while Anaheim was 0-for-1.
"That's one good thing with Spurgy, he's always on the attack, always on his toes when he sees an opportunity, and he's always going," said Suter, who scored a goal Monday that was assisted on by Spurgeon.
A heads-up effort by Sturm put the Wild up for good in the second after Max Comtois tied it just 22 seconds into the period.
Sturm split the Anaheim defense to chase a puck that was rolling to Miller, and when Miller bobbled the puck, Sturm was alone in front of the net to score at 7:01, his first career game-winner. Miller finished with 23 saves.
"It was a fluky one," Suter said. "But they don't ask how, right?"
While the Wild held on the rest of the way, the team still isn't as polished as it's showed it can be.
And with a tough test on Thursday — its first matchup of the season with the St. Louis Blues, who trail the Wild by four points for third in the West Division — tightening up is on the team's radar.
"We do have to simplify our game," coach Dean Evason said. "We can't continually turn pucks over and throw pucks cross-ice and teams pick it up because it's going to end up biting us in the butt."
The NHL’s coaching carousel revealed itself again, a fight reminded us what has changed, and of course there was unpredictable matter involving a goalie.
