Dumba's OT Goal Leads Wild Over Predators 3-2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild are seemingly unstoppable on the road. The Nashville Predators can't find a way to win at home.
Matt Dumba scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the visiting Wild a 3-2 win over the Predators on Tuesday night.
Charlie Coyle had the other two goals for Minnesota, which won for the third time in four games. The Wild have won eight straight road games.
"That was another character win for our guys," Wild coach Mike Yeo said.
Roman Josi scored both goals for the Predators, who have lost three of four and five straight at home.
"It's frustrating," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's frustrating for everybody. At the end of the night, you've got to win games. We had an opportunity to win the last two games and we didn't get it done.
"There are things that we can do better."
Just after overtime began, Zach Parise left a drop pass for Dumba at the top of the right circle, where he ripped a slap shot past goalie Pekka Rinne.
"Zach made a great pass to me, and I got lucky," Dumba said. "Our mindset was that we were going to keep going. We were going to keep pressuring them and see what happens, and it worked out for us."
Yeo said the goal was a nice punctuation mark at the end of a strong all-around game from Dumba.
"I liked his defensive game even more than I liked his offensive game," Yeo said. "That's why he's getting more opportunities, so we'll have to make sure we keep on that."
Coyle scored the game's first goal at 19:02 of the opening period.
Jordan Leopold's shot from the right dot hit traffic in front of Rinne. Coyle was standing in front and outmuscled Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis and tapped in the rebound for his ninth goal.
The assist was Leopold's first point since Minnesota acquired him from Columbus at last month's NHL trade deadline.
Josi tied it 1-1 at 13:41 of the second off of a nice pass from rookie Filip Forsberg.
Less than a minute later, Josi took a pass from Viktor Stalberg at the top of the left circle and beat goalie Devan Dubnyk to the far side with a wrist shot.
Dubnyk earned his 30th win of the season.
Josi leads Nashville defensemen with 51 points this season.
"We played pretty solid for two periods again," Josi said. "The last period, we've just got to be better. We've got to go after the next goal and not step back."
Coyle tied it 2-2 at 13:19 of the third when he beat Rinne with a slap shot from the right side.
"We never feel we are out," Coyle said. "We always feel like we are in the game, especially a one-goal game. It's nice to get that one right before overtime and get a little momentum heading into it."
NOTES: Minnesota LW Thomas Vanek had one assist in the game, extending his point streak to five games. ... The Wild are 31-6-3 when they score first this season. ... Josi has three goals in his last two games.
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