Filip Gustavsson stopped all 19 shots he faced, and the Minnesota Wild pulled away for a 3-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Gustavsson made two saves in the first period, seven saves in the second period and 10 saves in the third period to lift Minnesota. Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Kirill Kaprizov each scored for the Wild, who have won three of their past four games.
Montreal was shut out for the first time this season.
Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault took a hard-luck loss despite turning aside 25 of 27 shots. He dropped to 4-8-1 this season.
The game remained scoreless until midway through the second period, when the Wild finally broke through with an even-strength goal.
Kaprizov carried the puck behind the net and into the right circle, where he spun and zipped a pass to Marcus Johansson near the left side of the crease. Johansson quickly redirected a pass to Boldy, who punched in a shot for his 10th goal of the season.
The sequence gave Boldy goals in back-to-back games. He has scored four goals in his past four games and already has notched four seasons in a row with double-digit goals.
Rossi gave the Wild a 2-0 lead on the power play with 7:41 remaining in the third period. He took a pass from Jared Spurgeon and ripped a wrist shot into the net for his fifth goal.
Spurgeon helped to set up the power play that led to Minnesota’s second goal. He broke up a three-on-two rush by Montreal and drew a high stick from Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble to give the Wild a four-minute man advantage.
Kaprizov added an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left to cap the scoring.
Wild defenseman Brock Faber played in his 100th career game. The 22-year-old from suburban Minneapolis finished as the runner-up last season to the Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
–Field Level Media
