Wild 3, Hurricanes 1
Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist as visiting Minnesota remained red-hot with a win over Carolina.
Charlie Coyle and Zach Parise also tallied for the Wild, who have won 18 of their last 23 games and moved three points clear of idle Winnipeg for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Jason Pominville added a pair of assists while Devan Dubnyk continued his unbelievable run with a 37-save performance.
Riley Nash had the lone goal for the Hurricanes, who have dropped two straight following a three-game winning streak. Anton Khudobin stopped 16 shots in defeat.
Coyle put the Wild ahead 11 minutes into the game, gathering a cross-ice pass from Nino Niederreiter and snapping a high shot past Khudobin's glove for his first goal since Feb. 7. The Hurricanes responded with a strong second - outshooting Minnesota 16-4 - and were rewarded with 4:42 remaining in the period as Nash ended a 17-game goalless drought with a conversion of Jeff Skinner's feed to finish off a 2-on-1 break.
Granlund vaulted Minnesota in front for good 4:22 into the third, as his pass intended for Pominville redirected off the skate of Carolina blue-liner John-Michael Liles and in. Parise added some insurance just under two minutes later by converting a rebound of Pominville's shot for his team-high 26th goal.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Pominville has back-to-back multi-point games after recording just one point in his previous nine contests. ... Dubnyk is 18-3-1 in 23 games since coming over in a trade with Arizona - and has made every start since the deal. ... . Hurricanes D Rasmus Rissanen made his NHL debut, finishing with one shot and a minus-2 rating in 16:01 of ice time.