National Hockey League
Minnesota 5, Florida 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Where: Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Referees: Ian Walsh, Chris Rooney
Linesmen: Trent Knorr, Brian Mach
Attendance: 19029

Wild pound Panthers 5-1

Matt Cullen and Eric Staal each scored two goals, and Jared Spurgeon had three assists to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn.



Devan Dubnyk 25 saves and Charlie Coyle also scored for Minnesota, which won for the third time in four games and snapped Florida's season-high, five-game winning streak.



James Reimer stopped 23 of 26 shots and backup Harri Sateri stopped 13 of 14 for Florida (17-17-5). The Panthers were outshot 41-26, including 32-11 in the first two periods.



Minnesota (21-16-3) took a 1-0 lead at 14:21 of the first period when Cullen knocked in a rebound of a Spurgeon slap shot from the left side of the net. Reimer, fighting around a screen by Wild forward Marcus Foligno, did the splits and barely got a skate on Spurgeon's shot, but the rebound went straight to Cullen, who quickly poked it into the net.



Cullen, who entered the contest with just two goals in 38 games, got his second goal of the night at 1:56 of the second period. He scored on a double redirect of a Gustav Olofsson shot from the blue line that was first deflected by Foligno in the slot. The puck fell toward Cullen, who redirected it again past Reimer from the right side of the net for his 699th career point.



Staal then made it 4-0 with a pair of goals in a 2:39 span late in the middle period. The first came on a rebound in front of the net of another Spurgeon slap shot against Sateri, who briefly replaced Reimer while the starter was looked at in the locker room, and the second off a nice pass from Tyler Ennis while cutting alone in front of the net.



Florida's Jonathan Huberdeau scored his 14th goal of the season and fifth in five games off a crossing pass from Vincent Trocheck early in the third period to spoil Dubnyk's chance at a fourth shutout this season.



Coyle concluded the scoring with his third goal of the season, into an empty net with 3:05 to go.



--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Florida   Minnesota
Jonathan Huberdeau 1 Points Jared Spurgeon 3
Jonathan Huberdeau 1 Goals Matt Cullen 2
Aleksander Barkov 1 Assists Jared Spurgeon 3
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Harri Sateri .929 Save Percentage Devan Dubnyk .962
James Reimer 23 Saves Devan Dubnyk 25
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Florida 26 1 0-2 1-1 7 27
Minnesota 41 5 0-1 2-2 9 31
Upcoming Games
  • Minnesota will play their next game at home against Buffalo. The Wild have a W/L % of .476 after a win and .579 after a loss.
  • Florida will play their next game on the road against Boston. The Panthers have a W/L % of .412 after a win and .455 after a loss.