Wild wins the right way Thursday night in Detroit

DETROIT --Playing against the NHL's worst team on the front half of back-to-back games, the Wild played itself a nearly flawless game in a 7-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings.
Detroit is a proud city with a tremendous history as a franchise, but there is no doubt the Red Wings are waist-deep in a massive rebuilding effort. The Wings entered the night with 34 points, 16 fewer than the next worst team in the NHL.
But Minnesota was on the front end of consecutive games, coming off an emotional win at home on Tuesday against Columbus with a rematch against the Blue Jackets pending on Friday.

It would have been easy for the Wild to come to the Motor City, put forth an average effort and give the Red Wings more hope than they probably deserve.

Instead, Minnesota jumped on the Wings early, kept pushing and rolled to an easy victory.
In doing so, the Wild accomplished a couple of things:
It kept four lines rolling all night long, crucial for a team that will play its third game in four nights and the second in 24 hours Friday night at Nationwide Arena.
"I'm pretty sure [all the ice-time numbers] are pretty even," said Wild interim coach Dean Evason. "Nobody was really taxed and we were able to roll the six [defensemen] and all four lines. There's no question, when you get a back-to-back, it's nice to conserve some energy."
The game also allowed for a number of guys to find the scoresheet; 10 of the Wild's 12 forwards tallied at least one point as well as three of the six defensemen.
Of the two forwards who came up empty, hometown boy Gerry Mayhew finished a plus-3 with two shots and a team-leading four hits.
On the backend, Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin played perhaps their most impactful games of the season. The Wild's No. 2 defensive pair combined for two goals and two assists and each was a plus-4 in the game.
All in all, it was a dominant effort.

"That's what we talked about this morning, and we didn't necessarily make a huge point of it with our group, we just mentioned it, when, where and who we play," Evason said. "It's how we play and the guys were committed to doing that."
Even the goaltender Alex Stalock finished with 25 saves, the only shot beating him coming off the stick of Anthony Mantha seven minutes into the second period on a breakaway.
Mantha's goal allowed for the only bit of suspense in the game, as it brought the Wings to within 3-1 and Detroit followed with a strong next shift or two.

But the Wild got a power play, Dumba cranked his second goal of the night past Jimmy Howard on a one-timer, and that was that.
Jordan Greenway and Kevin Fiala added second-period highlight-reel goals over the next eight minutes to make the final score a formality.

"It was good for us to continue to play our game," Greenway said. "Even though it's easy to get out of a game like that, we found ways to stay disciplined, keep things simple and play pretty well defensively to keep the puck out of our own net and going into theirs."
Minnesota did exactly what it needed to against a team with little to no hope the rest of this season. Ryan Hartman and Ryan Donato scored goals on consecutive shifts just 27 seconds apart, and 8:19 into the game, the Wild led 2-0.
"Sometimes those teams are dangerous, teams that have nothing to lose, per se," Hartman said. "We wanted to key in on getting on them early, try to take the pride away from them early. We talked about that a lot coming into this game."

Up front, the Wild's "fourth" line led the way, although that group is playing nothing like a traditional fourth line.
Donato and Mikko Koivu assisted on Hartman's goal while Hartman earned a helper on Donato's tally moments later.
Koivu, fresh out of the penalty box, earned the lone assist on Fiala's goal late in the second period. Donato and Hartman each finished a plus-2 while Koivu was a plus-3.

All this after accounting for three of Minnesota's five goals in a 5-4 win over Columbus in St. Paul on Tuesday night.
"I think we're doing a lot of the right things," Hartman said. "Mikko] is winning a lot of draws for us, we're starting with the puck a lot. [Donato has] been making good plays, good passes, obviously he's been getting to the net a lot too, which isn't necessarily a part of his game, but it's been a part of his game for the last few and it's been working really well for him. I think that's been really good.
"We felt good, obviously. We wanted to get off to a good start. We were able to do that. We tried to get on them early."
That early effort could certainly pay big dividends as Minnesota moves south to the Ohio capital on Friday night. The Wild secured two points, but other action around the League on Thursday meant it gained little ground in the Western Conference standings.
The one thing the Wild has is games in hand, one of which will be burned up against the Blue Jackets.
"But you know us," Evason said, "we'll take it one game at a time and see what happens."
**Related:**
[Postgame Hat Trick: Wild 7, Red Wings 1