Wild hammer Panthers
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Zach Parise's first goal of December got things rolling early for Minnesota and a quartet of his teammates chipped in as the Wild hammered the Florida Panthers 5-1 on Tuesday, running their winning streak to five games.
Devan Dubnyk stopped 29 Florida shots, while Erik Haula, Eric Staal, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker added Wild goals, improving to 16-8-4 overall. Minnesota is now 8-0-2 all-time at home versus the Panthers.
Xcel Energy Center continued to be a house of horrors for Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who had a dozen saves on 17 shots, falling to 3-12-3 all-time in Minnesota's home rink. He headed to the locker room after Zucker scored Minnesota's fifth goal, and James Reimer finished the game in goal for the Panthers (13-13-4) with five saves. It was the fourth time in Luongo's last seven starts in Minnesota that he has been pulled.
The Panthers only goal came in the final minutes of the game, when a long-range shot by defenseman Dylan McIlrath ended Dubnyk's bid for a shutout. It was the first goal of the season for McIlrath, who had fights with Chris Stewart and Kurtis Gabriel earlier in the game.
The Panthers had a decided 13-5 advantage in shots in the opening period, thanks in part to a trio of power plays, but emerged down by a goal. Parise's wrist shot from the left circle eluded Luongo's glove. It was the fifth goal of the season for Parise.
Haula doubled the Minnesota lead early in the second period, popping in a shot from the hashmarks after a pass from Nino Niederreiter. Luongo had been pulled out of position by the Minnesota rush to the net, leaving Haula a mostly open goalmouth.
Florida appeared to cut the lead in half near the midway point of the game when a shot by Kyle Rau from the high slot deflected off Dubnyk's right leg pad and into the upper left corner of the net. Wild coach Bruce Boudreau challenged the play, and replays showed that Panthers center Derek MacKenzie had been a stride offside entering the zone, negating the goal.
Barely a minute later, Jason Pominville's lead pass sprung Staal on a breakaway. Luongo made a blocker save on the initial shot, but Staal was able to poke the rebound over the goal line for a 3-0 Minnesota lead.
NOTES: Wild D Christian Folin returned to the lineup on Tuesday after missing the previous seven games with a lower body injury. ... The first-ever meeting between the Panthers and Wild, on Oct. 22, 2000 in St. Paul, ended in a 0-0 tie with Florida's Roberto Luongo (20 saves) and Minnesota's Jamie McLennan (24 saves) each earning a shutout. ... On Tuesday, Minnesota recalled LW Teemu Pulkkinen from their Iowa AHL team, but he was not in the lineup versus Florida. He has one goal in eight games with the Wild this season. ... On this day in 1994, Met Center, which was the original home of pro hockey in Minnesota, was imploded to make way for an IKEA store. The 15,000-seat building in suburban Bloomington, Minn., was home of the Minnesota North Stars for 26 seasons, before they relocated to Dallas. Panthers RW Jaromir Jagr is the NHL's only active player to have skated in a game there.