 fell behind 2-0, but they rallied to tie the game 3-3 entering the third period. Yet it was not enough to overcome a Carolina team that improved to 12-7-1.Joel Edmundson opened the scoring for Carolina 3:56 into the game. His point shot deflected off Wild center Luke Kunin over Dubnyk's glove for the defenseman's second goal of the season. Martin Necas also drew an assist, giving him eight points in eight games.Two minutes later a rebound off Dubnyk ricocheted into the slot where winger Brock McGinn pounced on the puck and whipped it past the goaltender on the short side, and the Hurricanes were cruising.Luke Kunin cut the deficit in half 4:27 into the second period. His quick shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle beat Reimer to convert a pretty three-way passing play with Jordan Greenway and Jonas Brodin. It was Kunin's fourth goal of the season.Minnesota's momentum was fleeting. Warren Foegele regained Carolina's two-goal lead at 8:50, one-timing Ryan Dzingel's centering feed past Dubnyk for his second goal in three games after scoring only one in his first 17.Then it was the Wild's turn for a quick two-goal strike. Zach Parise bagged his sixth of the season shorthanded at 15:43. Just 1:21 later defenseman Carson Soucy beat Reimer with a wrist shot from the left circle for his first career NHL goal. Former Hurricanes center Victor Rask earned the lone assist as Minnesota outshot Carolina 15-7 in the second period.''They got to their game a little bit, but we were just non-existent as a group,'' said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. ''I think our first chance came at 11 minutes gone and it ended up being a goal. So, we got a little bit fortunate there. I love the fact that we put that behind us and came out and played a good third period and got a win.'' Meanwhile, the Wild managed to extend its home point streak to six games (4-0-2) since losing its Oct. 12 home opener to Pittsburgh, which took some of the edge off their latest overtime loss. Minnesota has lost three straight overtime games, plus its last two shootouts, dating back to the 2018-19 season.''It's unfortunate for sure,'' said Greenway. ''Maybe the first five minutes, we didn't play great but after that, honestly, we did a lot of great things. Sometimes you're going to have the bounces, sometimes you're not. But I think we created a lot of good luck for ourselves tonight.'' NOTES: Hurricanes left wing Jordan Martinook, after missing 15 games because of torn muscle, assisted on Edmundson's goal. . Carolina forward Brian Gibbons cleared waivers and was reassigned to the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League. . The Wild honored Niederreiter with a video tribute and fans gave him an ovation during the first television timeout of the first period. Niederreiter played for Minnesota from 2013-19.UP NEXTHurricanes: Concludes their three-game road trip Tuesday in Chicago.Wild: Hit the road again for the 14th time in 21 games Tuesday when they visit Buffalo.)
The Minnesota Wild hope home-ice advantage can help them create some badly needed momentum when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Saint Paul, Minn. on Saturday afternoon.After a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, the Wild will try to win consecutive games for just the second time this season. A tough early schedule could be partially to blame for Minnesota's inconsistency, as 13 of the Wild's first 19 games have come on the road, where the club has struggled to a 3-10-0 record.On home ice, however, the Wild are 4-1-1 after Thursday's victory. Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, and Kevin Fiala combined for four points (two goals, two assists) against the Coyotes, indicating that the newly-formed line is starting to click."We haven't played a lot of hockey with Kevin so he doesn't know our tendencies and we don't know his," Parise said. "We're trying to learn and trying to become familiar with each other, where we go on the ice and where we can just hit it when we're under pressure. I think we're ... spending way more time in the offensive zone and now we're getting some scoring chances and that's the way it's supposed to be played." Parise had a goal and an assist against Arizona for his first multi-point game of the season. After recording just one assist in his first eight games, Fiala is also heating up, with four goals and two assists over his last six outings.The Hurricanes are on even more of an offensive roll, with 13 goals scored over the course of their two-game winning streak. Andrei Svechnikov, Teuvo Teravainen, Sebastian Aho and Dougie Hamilton all had multi-point games in Carolina's 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, with Hamilton scoring the overtime winner."Marty [Martin Necas] built up really good speed and took it to the net. I was hoping he'd be able to score there. I just saw that he kind of lost it or whatever," Hamilton told NHL.com's Michael Smith. "He bumped it to me, and I was trying to decide if I should shoot it or not, so I just shot it. That was that." Aho has nine points (six goals, three assists) over his last seven games. Teravainen is on a four-game point streak, and has at least one point in seven of his last eight games.It has been something of a hot-or-cold season for the Hurricanes, who began the year with a perfect 5-0-0 record. Carolina's current two-game streak was preceded by four consecutive regulation losses, which followed three straight wins, which came after an 0-2-1 stretch.Petr Mrazek is likely to be back in net for the Hurricanes. Mrazek stopped 29 of 33 shots against Buffalo to improve his record to 9-3-1 this season.Devan Dubnyk is the probable starter for Minnesota, as the goalie continues to climb out of an early-season slump. Dubnyk has a 2-1-0 record, 2.35 goals against average, and .929 save percentage over his last three outings.The Wild are 1-1-2 against the Hurricanes over the last two seasons. Aho was the star of Carolina's last visit to Saint Paul, as the forward recorded four points (two goals, two assists) and scored in overtime to give the Hurricanes a 5-4 win over the Wild on Oct. 13, 2018.--Field Level Media
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