Wild hopes win in Columbus can turn tide away from home

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Things have been so dicey on the road lately for the Minnesota Wild, coach Bruce Boudreau had to spell it out in numbers on Tuesday morning.
When the team arrived at Nationwide Arena for its morning skate, Boudreau shared with it some of the most alarming figures available, including a 9-14-1 record away from Xcel Energy Center that ranks in the NHL's bottom third, a League-best-at-home penalty kill that's last on the road, and goals-against, save percentage and goal differential metrics far from becoming of a team traditionally known for stout defense and solid goaltending.

"Nothing we didn't know," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. "It's been a tough go on the road; we've all felt it, we've all talked about it, and there's nothing we can say to make it go away. We've just gotta go play better."

Boudreau often says anyone can do anything once, and while the game Tuesday amounted to just a single win and two points in the standings, the Wild hopes a 3-2 shootout victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets can be the start of something.
Consider it a post All-Star Game slate cleaning.
"I think you can. You just have to take it game-by-game," said Wild forward Charlie Coyle, whose third-period goal gave Minnesota a brief 2-1 advantage. "It's going to be a fight to the finish here, and no one seems to be slowing down. We can't afford to; we've gotta use this game as a stepping stone to get better each game."
There were plenty of opportunities for the game Tuesday to be just like so many others have this season.
The Blue Jackets jumped ahead early, scoring just 1:16 into the game on a point shot that deflected past Dubnyk off Ryan Suter's stick. Minnesota recovered nicely, outshooting the Blue Jackets 11-6 in the first and dodging a bullet when a second goal was reviewed and taken off the board because it was kicked in.

The Wild then poured it on early in the second, procuring 10 of the first 11 shots and tying the score on Jason Zucker's power-play tally.
After a lull midway through the second, Minnesota put a pair of pucks past Sergei Bobrovsky late in the period,
only to see neither of them count
; one was immediately waved off (and not reviewed) and the other came a split second after time expired on the period.
"You can get frustrated, or you can come out, it's a tie game, on the road, heading into the third," Coyle said. "We know we've got a good team in here. It's just how you look at it; stay positive, come out and get the job done ... overtime, regulation, shootout, whatever, get the job done and get the two points."

Coyle's goal with 7:50 remaining in regulation seemed to put Minnesota in the driver's seat until a second consecutive third-period penalty put the Blue Jackets on the power play.
Just 15 seconds in, Artemi Panarin fired a laser past a screened Dubnyk. Once again the game was tied.
Once again, the Wild didn't panic.

Minnesota pressured late in regulation, was the better team in overtime and then got goals from Chris Stewart and Zach Parise to earn the extra point.
Just like the coach drew it up.

"The first 10 minutes of the second was a perfect road game; getting it deep, shooting at the net, going at the net, doing all the simple things," said Boudreau, whose club peppered Bobrovskhy with a season-high 43 shots in regulation and overtime. "We didn't give them too much. I thought we were pretty determined.
"Those are things you cut up and you show and you try and duplicate and duplicate and duplicate. So we gotta do it."
Related:
- Watch: Dubnyk, Coyle and Parise's postgame comments - Postgame Hat Trick: Three takeaways from win Tuesday - - Foligno brothers tangle in Columbus