Duhaime lifts Wild to road win over Canadiens

MONTREAL — Brandon Duhaime was born in Coral Springs, Fla., but he has family in Montreal thanks to his mother Martine’s side. She, along with several cousins from across the Greater Montreal region, came to the Bell Centre to watch her son play and the winger did not disappoint on Tuesday night.

Duhaime scored the game winner and added one assist as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1.

“For me personally, I'm just trying to take it as another game and not getting too high, too low and nothing like that,” Duhaime said. “But for them it's obviously really special to come in there. Hometown and, you know, get a big team win like we did.”

Joel Eriksson Ek scored Minnesota’s first goal of the night and added the empty netter. The Wild (2-3-1) have recorded five points out of a possible six in their last three NHL games.

“We talked to the guys about embracing the way that we played here tonight. That's how we have to play a gritty, determined game,” said Wild coach Dean Evason. “We did a lot of good things in the areas that we haven't done good things as far as defending and managing the puck very well.”

"It's been better in the past three games, of course,” said Wild centre Frederick Gaudreau. “We’re not gonna lie, we didn't want to start 0-3 and it's been better lately. But I think what we’ve got to focus on is just doing the right things and the results, they'll come when we do the right things.”

Marc-Andre Fleury returned to his home province and denied a third-period penalty shot to secure the win. The Sorel-Tracy, Que., native made 26 saves and allowed one goal in a building he said “hasn’t been friendly” to him.

“For many years I've had so many losses it's like I still feel like I'm catching up, but it feels great,” Fleury said. “I don't have many games left here in Montreal so I try to make the most out of it. I try to have the most fun, as much as I can and that’s what I did.”

Cole Caufield was Montreal’s lone goal scorer, with his fifth marker of the season. Jake Allen made 28 saves and allowed two goals.

“We could have easily scored in that third period. We had a lot of chances, we could have tied the game, we could have won it,” said Nick Suzuki. “There’s little things that we want to clean up in the defensive zone but where our group is at, it’s a good spot. Once we get the power play going it’ll help win more games.”

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 wide but bounced off the boards and into the crease for Eriksson Ek to tap in.

“We had good chances in the first period but we shot ourselves in the foot,” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis. “There was a four-on-three, then they scored the first goal and it was like we were helping them. It’s not about willingness, it was about a lack of execution.”

Caufield equalized for the Canadiens (3-4-0) early in the second period. The winger distanced himself from his checker with a swift cutback inside the right faceoff circle and surprised Fleury with a wrist shot.

The Wild regained the lead thanks to a turnover in the neutral zone. Gaudreau intercepted Johnathan Kovacevic’s pass in the centre circle, entered the offensive zone and connected with Duhaime for the one-timer.

Mike Hoffman was awarded a penalty shot with 14:10 remaining in the third period after getting held on a breakaway by former Hab Jon Merrill. The 32 year-old made his way down the ice and lined up a shot but was easily denied by Fleury with a pad save.

“Hoffman is a guy that has a great shot. I've seen him over the years a bunch, right, so I wasn't too sure if he was going to snap one,” Fleury said. "You never can anticipate too much. I just tried to stay patient, on my feet and trying to react the right way.”

The Canadiens pulled Allen with just over one minute remaining but Eriksson Ek added his second goal of the game with the empty netter.

NOTE

Kaiden Guhle received a shot on the ear late in the third period. The rookie blue liner retreated to the locker room holding a towel to his ear. The Canadiens did not offer an update on his status after the game.

FLEURY’S 25TH

Fleury returned to the Bell Centre representing a third team in two years. After experiencing heartbreak with the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, Fleury returned as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 9.

For a rare moment, the Bell Centre crowd gave a visiting player a standing ovation when Fleury picked up his 500th win in a 2-0 shutout. He picked up his 25th career win against the Canadiens on Tuesday.

NEXT UP

The Canadiens embark on a four-game road trip starting with a visit to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. The Wild will continue on their four-game road trip with a game Thursday in Ottawa against the Senators.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2022.