Das Forum » Minnesota coach Bruce

ST. PAUL http://www.officialwild.com/authentic-adidas-devan-dubnyk-jersey , Minn. (AP) — Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau believes the typical sense of urgency to make a playoff push is hitting teams earlier than normal this season.It certainly seemed that way for the Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Disappointing home losses and tightening standings have a way of doing that.“The sense of urgency is there,” Boudreau said. “I’ve got to believe it’s going to be quite a race from here on in.”Zach Parise scored his team-leading 20th goal and Devan Dubnyk had 19 saves as the Wild held off the Blue Jackets 2-1.The Wild bounced back from a listless 3-0 defeat to Anaheim by sending the Blue Jackets to their second straight loss.Jordan Greenway also scored his ninth goal for Minnesota, which pulled into a tie with the Ducks for the final playoff spot in the West.“I think we were all disappointed with last game,” Dubnyk said of Thursday night’s loss, in which Minnesota allowed three first-period goals. “We have a lot of pride and our fans are great here and we don’t like giving them efforts like that. I think everybody was ready and prepared to come out and play, regardless of how the game went.”The Blue Jackets were coming off a tough loss of their own, falling 4-1 on Friday night at home to Montreal. That loss knocked them out of the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.Columbus won’t play again until January 29. While this certainly wasn’t the way they wanted to enter the All-Star break, the players said they plan to use the time away to reset.“It’s going to feel good to get a break,” Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “I didn’t think yesterday we played horribly. I think we still could have got a point — we didn’t. I think today just kind of the same thing. We did some good things, some bad things, but the break’s going to feel really good to relax a little bit.”Artemi Panarin scored Columbus’ lone goal Eric Staal Jersey , and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots.Off to their second-best start in franchise history, the Blue Jackets entered the game 14-3-1 when coming off a loss this season.But they couldn’t muster much offense against a Wild team that was 1-3-0 after the loss to Anaheim, and scrapping to stay in the Western Conference playoff race.“I don’t know where the standings are going to shake out, but we’re still right there in the mix regardless of how dark it’s been at times the last little while, we’re still right there,” Parise said.Minnesota outshot Columbus 31-20, including 15-6 in the second period.“We wasted a great effort by Bob,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said of his goalie. “It’s mind-boggling what we do when we get near that net and how many pucks we shoot wide or over handle.”Minnesota scored first for only the 18th time in 48 games when Greenway took a pretty pass from Eric Staal at 16:07 of the first, and fired a sharp one-timer from the left circle past Bobrovsky. Eighty-nine seconds later, Parise made it 2-0 when Pontus Aberg tried to clear the puck from behind the net. His attempt appeared to hit off a defender’s skate and went right to Parise, who scored from the slot.Panarin scored on a wrister from the left circle at 3:07 of the second period. Dubnyk was screened by Nick Foligno on the shot.NOTES: : Newcomers Aberg and Victor Rask assisted on Parise’s goal Womens Jared Spurgeon Jersey , their first points with the Wild since being traded earlier in the week from Anaheim and Carolina, respectively. . Columbus had only six shots in the third period. … Parise has scored 20 goals in nine of 14 NHL seasons. . The Wild improved to 13-2-1 when leading after two. . Rask’s introduction to the home crowd was a bit anticlimactic. He served a two-minute penalty when Minnesota was whistled for too many men on the ice at 2:20 of the first period.UP NEXT:Blue Jackets: Off for the All-Star break, then hosting Buffalo on Jan. 29.Wild: At Vegas on Monday. GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Anaheim relied on physicality to end Arizona’s NHL-high six-game winning streak.Adam Henrique and Troy Terry scored power-play goals in the third period, Jakob Silfverberg added a goal and an assist and the Ducks bullied their way to a 3-1 victory over the Coyotes on Tuesday night.“We know they have a lot of small skill over there, and that seems the way the game is going now, small skill,” said Ryan Kesler, who played in his 1000th NHL game.“When we’re playing our game, we have our neutral zone (working), those kids have nowhere to skate and we are finishing checks and being hard on them and trying to intimidate them.”Silfverberg has two goals and four points since signing a five-year Jason Zucker Jersey , $26.5 million contract extension Saturday that will keep him under contract through 2023-24. He scored his 100th Ducks goal on Sunday.“The puck seems to be going in again,” Silfverberg said. “It’s not just me. Our team is playing pretty good now. The last three weeks we have been playing pretty good but just not getting the results we wanted other than the last two games.”The Ducks had scored only seven goals while losing five of their previous six, but are 6-5 overall since general manager Bob Murray fired coach Randy Carlyle and installed a new system after stepping in as the interim coach.“It’s our structure in the zone now,” Kesler said. “We’re starting to trust each other again. Trust was a thing that was kind of lost. Everybody was trying to do everybody else’s job, and when we rely on our structure now, trust builds. If you trust your teammates are going to do the job, they usually do.”Lawson Crouse scored his career-high 11th goal for the Coyotes, who had won the first four games of a season-long seven-game homestand. Crouse has three goals and five points in his in his last six games.The Coyotes did not have a shot on goal in the first 12 minutes, getting their first during 5-on-3 power play in which they did not score.“Liked our first (period),” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “We had some chances but after that it was garbage, to be honest with you.“We’re not going to win them all. We like what’s been going on around here Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey , but we didn’t get anything from some guys we need to start to play. If we’re going to go anywhere, we need these guys to go.”Henrique tipped Rickard Rakell’s shot from the left circle past Darcy Kuemper for a 2-1 lead four minutes into the third period, and Silfverberg assisted on Terry’s shot from the right circle midway through the period.Ducks backup goaltender Ryan Miller made 22 saves. He has lost his last two starts. Kuemper made 28 saves while having his seven-game winning streak broken. He had given up only 11 goals in that streak.KESLER REACHES 1,000Murray recognized Kesler’s milestone by putting him on the ice for the opening faceoff.“Little things like that make the day that much more special,” said Kesler, adding that he received emails and text messages from many former and current teammates.“Just reminiscing on all the years in the past. I said I wouldn’t do it, but I ended up doing it. I’ve had a great first thousand games. Had a lot of fun in this league. Met a lot of great people. And I’m happy we got the win.”WILD WILD WESTThe Coyotes lost a point to Minnesota and two to Colorado to fall three points behind the Wild for the final wild-card spot in the West. Minnesota has 72 points after an overtime loss in Nashville, and Colorado beat Detroit in overtime to reach 70. Dallas has 73.Arizona and Dallas have one game in hand on Minnesota and Colorado, however.NOTES: The Coyotes had not won six straight since 2012, the last season they made the playoffs. … Arizona D Jason Demers played for the first time since Nov. 15 after missing 47 games with a lower-body injury. D Jason Oesterle (upper body) was out. … Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf played in his second straight game after missing the previous five with an upper-body injury. Anaheim has won four in a row and five of six when he has played.UP NEXTDucks: Open a four-game homestand against St. Louis on Wednesday.Coyotes: Host Calgary on Thursday. The Flames won the first three games of the four-game season series while outscoring the Coyotes 18-4.