Brandon Duhaime scored the sport winner and added one help as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Tuesday evening.
Marc Andre Fleury returned to his dwelling province and denied a third-period penalty shot to safe the win. The Sorel-Tracy, Que., native made 26 saves and allowed one objective.
Cole Caufield was Montreal’s lone objective scorer, together with his fifth marker of the season. Jake Allen made 28 saves and allowed two targets.
WATCH l Eriksson Ek scores twice as Wild defeat Canadiens:
Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice for Minnesota as the Wild defeated Montreal 3-1 Tuesday evening.
The Wild opened the scoring on the run. Duhaime drove the puck in the offensive zone and left the puck for Eriksson Ek. His shot went broad however bounced off the boards and into the crease for Eriksson Ek to faucet in.
The Wild regained the lead due to a turnover in the impartial zone. Frederick Gaudreau intercepted Johnathan Kovacevic’s go in the centre circle, entered the offensive zone and linked with Duhaime for the one-timer.
Mike Hoffman was awarded a penalty shot with 14:10 remaining in the third interval after getting held on a breakaway by former Hab Jon Merrill. The 32 year-old made his approach down the ice and lined up a shot however was simply denied by Fleury with a pad save.
Head coach Martin St. Louis pulled Allen with simply over one minute remaining however Eriksson Ek added his second objective of the sport with the empty netter.