Boston Bruins lose second straight as Minnesota Wild's Niklas Backstrom blocks 48 in 2-0 shutout-NHL
Minnesota’s veteran goalie, Niklas Backstrom, caught fire during their Sunday night matchup, February 19, 2012, against Boston as he blocked all 48 attempts on his net despite being widely outshot lifting the Wild to a 2-0 shutout win against Bruins at the
sold-out Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Finally snapping their seven-game losing streak, Minnesota has definitely got something to build on as they dominated the defending Stanley Cup champions on their own terms.
"Winning, that's fun, that's why you play, and we haven't had a lot of wins in the last couple of months, so sure it's been tough," Backstrom said. "Hopefully this is a good start for something new. We'll try to enjoy this. We learned the last couple of
months; you can't take anything for granted."
After a scoreless first period competition, Minnesota Wild added two straight through Chad Rau, who flew towards the Boston net from his own end and fired it through veteran Bruins goalie, Tim Thomas, while Matt Cullen finalised it with his rebound goal
on their first power play opportunity of the night.
Minnesota managed to hold-off the Bruins in the third and final period of regulation as well to give them those extremely crucial two points, which can change everything at this point in the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season.
"Am I allowed to smile?" said Wild coach, Mike Yeo. "Obviously, Back was outstanding tonight, especially early in the game when they got off to a great start and had a couple of great chances early in the game."
The Wild had also achieved a record with their awful playing in the past few matchups by losing five consecutive at home, something the NHL franchise had not seen in the past.
They are still far away from seeing a playoff spot as Minnesota sits at number 12 in the Western Conference with 61 points. Wild have the next on the road against Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Boston on the other hand, is in desperation mode to come out of the consecutive losses form and have the chance to do it against St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
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