ST. PAUL, Minn. — Cam Talbot made 37 saves, and the Minnesota Wild extended their home winning streak to 11 games with a 2-0 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.
Talbot improved to 7-0-0 at home, tying the longest home winning streak of his career, set with the Edmonton Oilers from March 14-April 1, 2017.
“Anytime there’s a back-to-back, and like you said, 10 games in 18 days, you’re trying to do everything you can to swallow up rebounds and put the puck in good places so there aren’t those second opportunities,” said Talbot, who made 28 saves in a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. “If I did leave some laying out there, the guys did a really good job of whacking it out of harm’s way for me tonight. So another gritty win for us, and we’ll take the two points.”
Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov scored for Minnesota (21-10-1), which has won three games in a row.
“We didn’t have the A-game or the best game here tonight,” Wild coach Dean Evason said, “but we had the best result.”
St. Louis (16-12-5) lost its second game in a row and seventh in nine games (2-4-3) despite allowing 11 shots on goal, matching the NHL season low (Carolina Hurricanes against Dallas Stars, Jan. 30). Jordan Binnington made nine saves.
“We had chances, we had shots, we had traffic at the net the majority of the time, and sometimes you don’t get the bounces,” Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. “When you’re pressing and you’re pushing and you want to win so bad, sometimes it doesn’t go your way. But if we keep playing like that and playing together and playing hard, limiting teams’ chances, you’re going to come out on top most of the time.”
Johansson made it 1-0 at 5:46 of the second period when he scored on the Wild’s third shot of the game off a pass from Kevin Fiala.
“If anyone, [Fiala] can make those plays,” Johansson said. “[Fiala] had a lot of time, so once I saw that, I just tried to find an area, and [he] made a great play.”
Kaprizov skated around defenseman Torey Krug and scored short side from the bottom of the left face-off circle at 15:21 of the second to make it 2-0.
“It was a great shot, but [Binnington] would probably want that back, for sure,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “… Listen, I’m not going to harp on the two goals-against. We did plenty to score enough goals, we just didn’t score. If we play hockey like that, we’re going to win a lot of hockey games.”
NOTES: Talbot has allowed nine goals at home, second fewest in the NHL among goalies who have played at least five home games (Ilya Sorokin of New York Islanders, eight goals in five games). … The Wild have allowed two goals or fewer in eight of 11 games during the home winning streak. Their 1.88 goals-against average at home is the best in the NHL (16 games; 13-3-0). … Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba was plus-1 and had three hits in 18:27 in his return after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury. … Blues forward David Perron had a game-high nine shots on goal, and forward Vladimir Tarasenko had seven.
Vasilevskiy winning streak ends at 12 in Lightning loss to Stars
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by Corey Long / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
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by Adam Kimelman @NHLAdamK / NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor
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NHL On Tap: Flames host Jets looking to end three-game losing streak
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NHL.com @NHLdotcom
Welcome to the NHL On Tap. Three NHL.com writers will share what they are most looking forward to on the schedule each day. Today, their choices from the four games Friday.
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by Fantasy Hockey Staff @NHLFantasy
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by Fantasy Hockey Staff @NHLFantasy
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NHL.com @NHLdotcom
Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato and assistant Matt Ellis were not available for the game at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday in accordance with NHL COVID-19 protocol guidelines.
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NHL.com @NHLdotcom
Welcome to the NHL Buzz. Throughout the 2020-21 season, NHL.com will have you covered with the latest news.
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