Wild stretches winning streak to 7
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Darcy Keumper made 27 saves and the Minnesota Wild got goals from Ryan Suter, Tyler Graovac, Chris Stewart and Eric Staal to extend its winning streak to seven games with a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Brendan Perlini's second goal of the season with 1:54 to go spoiled Kuemper's bid for his eighth career shutout and first of the season.
Kuemper, making his first start since a Nov. 29 loss at Vancouver, earned his first win in more than a month to raise his record to 3-2-1 in a spot start in place of Devan Dubnyk, who leads the league in goals against average and save percentage.
Graovac blocked Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun's shot just inside the Minnesota blue line and was off to the races with Jason Zucker to his left. Graovac faked a shot from the right circle and, with Chychrun leaning on him, tried to slide the puck to Zucker.
But the puck rolled off Graovac's stick and banking off the right leg of a surprised Arizona goalie Mike Smith for his third of the season and a 2-0 Minnesota lead at 11:35 of the second period.
The Wild kept the pressure on, forcing Smith to rob Nino Niederreiter on a 2-on-1 with Staal seconds after Graovac’s goal.
Smith, who is 4-0-2 in a league-leading six games facing 40 or more shots, didn't see nearly that much rubber but what Minnesota lacked in quantity of shots it more than made up in quality.
Smith was forced to stop several good scoring chances and was aided by the goalposts four times in a 27-save effort.
A mostly quiet first period got busy in a hurry as the Wild capitalized on the second of back-to-back power plays to take a 1-0 lead on defenseman Suter's fifth goal of the season.
With Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the box for a second straight time after being out less than a minute, Suter's wrister from the left point squeezed its way through traffic past Smith at 16:40.
Stewart's goal at 3:24 of the third period made it 3-0. Arizona defenseman Connor Murphy coughed up the puck up to Stewart in the left circle who made a beeline for the crease and tucked the puck between Smith's legs.
Staal scored his 10th of the year into an empty net for the final margin.
NOTES: Coyotes D Alex Goligoski, a native of Grand Rapids, Minn., scored 25 goals and 98 points in three seasons at the University of Minnesota before turning pro in 2007. ... Minnesota LW Teemu Pulkkinen, a healthy scratch since being recalled from Iowa (AHL) on Dec. 13, was in the lineup in place of RW Kurtis Gabriel, who sat out along with D Nate Prosser. ... The Coyotes scratched D Michael Stone, D Kevin Connauton and C Ryan White. ... Wild RW Charlie Coyle tallied a goal and an assist in his 300th NHL game, a 5-2 Minnesota win at Nashville. ... Fans were invited to remain in the arena after Saturday's game to watch the U.S. Women's National Team take on Canada on the giant scoreboard screen in the first of two December Series meetings. ... The Coyotes return to Arizona to begin a five-game homestand against Calgary on Monday, while Minnesota remains home to host Colorado on Tuesday.