BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Minnesota Wild lead the NHL scoring. Not that they needed many goals to win the past two games.
Devan Dubnyk made 38 saves for his second straight shutout and the Wild beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-0 on Thursday night.
“He’s carrying us right now, so we’ll ride that wave,” defenceman Matt Dumba said.
Dubnyk made 27 saves Tuesday night in a 5-0 victory in Boston. He has 12 of his 21 career shutouts since joining the Wild in a trade with Arizona on Jan. 15, 2015, the most in the NHL during that span. Dubnyk’s debut for the Wild was a 7-0 victory in Buffalo.
“Unfortunately, we only play here once a year,” Dubnyk said. “This is a special place for me. It all began here with these guys, so there will always be good memories.”
Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist, and Joel Ericsson Ek, Jason Zucker and Mikko Koivu also scored. The Wild went 2-1-1 on a four-game road trip to improve to 5-2-1.
The Wild have scored 31 goals in eight games and every player has recorded a point.
“That’s how we have to win,” said Suter, who leads the Wild with eight points. “We don’t have the superstars. We need everybody on the team participating and so far we’ve been able to do that.”
Anders Nillson made 18 saves in his second straight start for the Sabres. They have lost four in a row.
The Sabres started strong but did not finish Tuesday night in Philadelphia, surrendering three third period goals in a 4-3 shootout loss. On Thursday night, they started slow and never recovered.
“I felt like we were squeezing our sticks a little bit, grinding the sawdust a little bit,” Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said. “We were just a little nervous with the puck. I don’t know if that’s from the Philly game, but that’s what it felt like in the first.”
Minnesota built a two-goal lead in the first period, but Buffalo controlled the action in the second. Dubnyk made 19 saves, including 15 in the first 6:11 of the period, and the Wild killed two penalties.
“I thought we had some great chances in that second period,” Sabres centre Ryan O’Reilly said. “If we would’ve got one, it would have changed the whole feel of the game. It would have tightened them up a bit.”
Suter scored his third goal of the season 2:58 into the third period, sending a wobbly wrist shot from the right circle over Nillson’s glove.
“They get the third one and it’s tough to fight back from that,” O’Reilly said.
Koivu added an empty-net goal with 1:09 left.
Eriksson Ek scored at 4:51 of the first period when he played the puck off the right boards to elude defenceman Jake McCabe and snapped a shot over Nillson’s left shoulder into the far corner of the net. The 19-year-old rookie has two goals and three assists in his first four games.
Zucker scored for the second straight game to make it 2-0 with 4:47 left in the first period. Taking a pass from Chris Stewart at the blue line, Zucker skated between two defenders into a breakaway and slipped a backhand beneath Nillson’s left pad.
NOTES: Minnesota D Marco Scandella went to the locker room during the first period after getting his right leg tangled up in a scrum in front of the net. … Wild D Jared Spurgeon (upper body) and F Erik Haula are both close to returning, coach Bruce Boudreau said. Spurgeon skated Thursday morning, while Haula did not. … Sabres F Evander Kane (cracked ribs) missed his fifth straight game and C Jack Eichel (ankle) remains out indefinitely. … Sabres D Rasmus Ristolainen played in his 200th NHL game on his 22nd birthday. He is the fourth-youngest player to appear in 200 games for the Sabres, according to Elias Sports Bureau. . Buffalo’s 38 shots were a season-high.
UP NEXT
Wild: Return home to play Dallas on Saturday.
Sabres: Host Florida on Saturday.
