Saad's goal carries Blue Jackets to 1-0 win over Wild
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Brandon Saad scored the lone goal to give the Columbus Blue Jackets the 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night at Nationwide Arena.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 38 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season and 33rd win of the season, setting a career high for wins for the Columbus goaltender.
Saad's score came 4:23 into the third period when he carried the puck into the zone and fired from the right circle. Devan Dubnyk made the initial save, but the puck trickled out of his grasp and Saad was there to tuck the puck past the near post for the only score of the night.
The goal was Saad's 19th of the season. It was the first score Jackets in 108:49 for the Jackets, who lost 1-0 in overtime on Tuesday night at Montreal.
Nick Foligno was credited with the lone assist.
Dubnyk finished with 39 saves for the Wild.
Columbus (40-16-6) swept the season series against Minnesota 2-0. The Blue Jackets own the series advantage 28-22-1-3.
The Wild (41-15-6) thought they had a goal 7:23 into the second period, when the puck got past Bobrovsky off a scramble, but it was determined that Erik Haula kicked the puck off William Karlsson's skate and the goal was overturned.
The two teams traded power play opportunities throughout the game, but neither could capitalize. Both teams went 0 of 4 with the man-advantage.
The Blue Jackets outshot the Wild 40-39 in their fifth shutout as a team this season.
The Wild pulled Dubnyk with 1:41 to play, but a Martin Hanzal elbowing penalty shortly after negated the man-advantage for Minnesota.
The loss ended Mikael Granlund's four-game streak with a goal. He scored five times during that span.
NOTES: F Lauri Korpikoski and D Kyle Quincey played their first game with the Blue Jackets after joining the team via trades on Wednesday. ... The Wild are 15-2-2 in their past 19 road games. ... D Markus Hannikainen and D Scott Harrington were healthy scratches for Columbus. ... Minnesota scratched D Nate Prosser. Also scratched were F Zach Parise and F Jason Pominville, each of whom missed a third straight game with the mumps.