Wild Pick Up Fourth Straight With Win Over Blues, Blackhawks Down Stars

By ESPN

The Minnesota Wild sharpened their game late against the St. Louis Blues and kept up an impressive recent stretch.

Matt Dumba, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund scored, Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves and Minnesota held on to beat the Blues 3-1 on Sunday night for their fourth straight win.

"I think that's nine out of 10 games that we've gotten points in," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I thought that was our best third period of the year. We had a one-goal lead and I thought we didn't give them anything. That is the way we play when we're playing really good. That's a positive thing. I hope they're starting to believe they're a good team."

Dumba scored for the second straight game in the second period and Niederreiter got his eighth goal about seven minutes later. Granlund added an empty-net goal.

Dubnyk is 6-0-2 in his last eight games, posting a 1.69 goals-against average and .941 save percentage since Nov. 23.

"That's important to just get that feeling, get that good feeling going," Dubnyk said. "When you can approach every game and feel good about what the outcome's going to be and how we're going to play, that's how you get on these streaks. These streaks are important when the schedule gets tough at the end of the year."

Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 14th goal of the season for St. Louis. Jake Allen stopped 22 shots for the Blues, who had won five of their past seven games.

Blackhawks 3, Stars 1

Scott Darling is getting into a groove. The banged-up Chicago Blackhawks are playing smart and tight in front of him.

On Sunday night, it all worked perfectly.

Marian Hossa, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin scored to lead the Central Division-leading Blackhawks over the Dallas Stars 3-1.

Darling made 23 saves in his fifth straight start while No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford recovers from an appendectomy. Darling has permitted just seven goals during the stretch, but the Blackhawks have scored only nine while going 2-2-1.

"You get into a rhythm," Darling said. "You feel more comfortable. And the guys have been playing great defense the last four games."

Coach Joel Quenneville appreciated what he saw from the net on out.

"Overall, our whole team game, I really liked tonight," Quenneville said. "We managed the puck a little bit better and scored some timely goals as well."

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews missed his ninth game and defenseman Brent Seabrook his second with upper-body injuries. That means the Blackhawks don't have as much firepower to throw around -- even if the 37-year-old Hossa scored his team-leading 15th goal and has three in three games.

"It was definitely a good test of what we can do without key players," Hossa said. "It's hard to replace guys like that."

Sunday, December 11 Scoreboard

Anaheim 5, Ottawa 1

Philadelphia 1, Detroit 0 (OT)

Washington 3, Vancouver 0

Minnesota 3, St. Louis 1

Colorado 3, Toronto 1

New York  Rangers 5, New Jersey 0

Chicago 3, Dallas 1

Edmonton 3, Winnipeg 2

Monday, December 12 Schedule (All Times Central)

Arizona at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Boston at Montreal, 6:30 p.m.