ST, PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jesper Wallstedt stopped a career-high 42 shots and three more in a shootout, Matt Boldy scored in regulation and had the lone goal in the tiebreaker in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night.
The Hurricanes outshot Minnesota 45-18 and scored with 1:06 left with their net empty to force overtime. But Wallstedt’s third great showing in a row and 24 blocked shots helped the Wild improve to 5-0-1 in their past six games.
Jackson Blake scored twice for the Hurricanes, including late from the crease on a stuff-in that barely crossed the goal line and had to be reviewed. The Fargo, North Dakota, native had two more chances in overtime, including a breakaway.
Wallstedt then kept Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov and Taylor Hall from scoring in the shootout. Boldy’s backhander off a deke got past Frederik Andersen to help give Minnesota its second shootout victory this season.
Mats Zuccarello scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway 15 seconds into the third to make it 3-1. Zuccarello missed Minnesota’s first 15 games because of lower-body injury, returning to the lineup Nov. 7.
Sebastian Aho pulled Carolina to 3-2 with 13:26 left.
Wallstedt was particularly stingy early in the second period, when he made nine saves in less than seven minutes. It took Blake’s net-front deflection with 5:56 left to finally solve the 23-year-old rookie from Sweden.
It was the first 5-on-5 goal allowed by Minnesota in over 302 minutes and ended a streak of 95 consecutive saves by Wallstedt. Encompassing consecutive shutouts against Calgary and Anaheim, Wallstedt’s scoreless streak of 175:12 is the fourth longest in Wild history.
Wallstedt entered Wednesday as the only NHL netminder with more than one shutout this season.
CAPITALS 7, OILERS 4
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ryan Leonard had two goals and Alex Ovechkin also scored, helping Washington beat Edmonton.
John Carlson and Connor McMichael each had three assists for Washington in its second straight win. Tom Wilson had two empty-net goals, and Logan Thompson stopped 24 shots.
Leonard’s fourth goal of the season gave the Capitals a 3-1 lead at 10:34 of the first period. He beat Stuart Skinner again in the second, making it 4-2 at 11:49.
Darnell Nurse had two goals for Edmonton, and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist. Connor McDavid had two assists.
The Oilers dropped to 2-3-0 on a seven-game trip.
FLAMES 6, SABRES 2
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Morgan Frost slipped Jonathan Huberdeau’s cross-crease pass past Colten Ellis to break a tie at 2:02 of the third and NHL-worst Calgary beat Buffalo.
Backup Devin Cooley made 28 saves for his first NHL victory since April 2024 with San Jose to help Calgary rebound from a 5-2 loss at Chicago on Tuesday night with starter Dustin Wolf in goal. The Flames improved to 6-13-3.
Joel Farabee scored twice for Calgary to double his season total. Rasmus Andersson had a goal and two assists, and Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato also scored. Frost added an assist.
Mattias Samuelsson and Tage Thompson scored in the second period for Buffalo to tie it at 2. Ellis stopped 29 shots in his first career loss. He won his first three decisions, all this season.
DUCKS 4, BRUINS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Ian Moore scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:35 to play, and Lukas Dostal made 36 saves in Anaheim’s victory over Boston.
Jansen Harkins. Radko Gudas and Ryan Strome also scored for the first-place Ducks, who have won nine of 12 after sweeping their season series with the Bruins.
The Bruins dominated long stretches of play and tied it with 12:21 left with Morgan Geekie’s second goal on a power play just seven seconds after Harkins took an awful cross-checking penalty.
But after another handful of outstanding saves by Dostal, Moore got the second goal his NHL career when Leo Carlsson found the young defenseman for a quick shot at the top of the slot while Chris Kreider screened Joonas Korpisalo.
Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Bruins, who opened a four-game road swing with their third loss in four games following a seven-game winning streak. Korpisalo stopped 29 shots, and Hampus Lindholm had two assists against his former team for Boston,
Mason McTavish had two assists in a bounce-back performance by the 21-year-old center after being demoted to the fourth line during the Ducks’ win over Utah on Monday.
The Associated Press
