Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Monday 2 deceMber 2019
Mikko Koivu scores shootout winner, Wild beat Stars 3-2

By PATRICK DONNELLY Parise tied it back up on ting through overtime is a
Associated Press the power play with 2:30 win for us," Parise said.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Mik- to go when he whacked a The win moved the Wild to
ko Koivu capped a mile- rebound out of the air and within five points of fourth-
stone game with the shoot- sent it over Bishop's shoul- place Dallas in the Central
out winner. der. Division, which many con-
Playing in his 1,000th ca- It was Parise's eighth goal sider to be the deepest in
reer game, the Minnesota in his last nine games and the league.
captain reached 700th ca- 12th of the season. "We're disappointed we
reer points with a second- "I saw the puck go up, and didn't take two points, but
period assist, then scored in your mind you're waiting to come in here and get
in the fourth round of the it seems like for a long time," one, it's something to build
tiebreaker to help the Wild Parise said. "You're just wait- off," Comeau said.
beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on ing for it to get below the NOTES: Boudreau said G
Sunday. crossbar, waiting and wait- Devan Dubnyk, who has
Koivu, playing his 15th sea- Minnesota Wild's Mikko Koivu hugs goalie Alex Stalock after ing. And I hit it square." been out since Nov. 16 as
son with the Wild, beat Ben Stalock blocked a shot in a shootout to win an NHL hockey That led to overtime, where his wife deals with health is-
Bishop with his trademark game against the Dallas Stars, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019, in St. Paul, the Wild have struggled. sues, would not accompa-
move, a backhand over Minn. They've lost all four of their ny the Wild on their three-
the goalie's left shoulder. Associated Press games decided in over- game road trip this week.
Then Alex Stalock, who "I think we have too many going to score four goals time this season, including ... Fiala extended his points
made 26 saves, stuffed Co- good hockey players," on most nights." two in a row last week. But streak to four games and
rey Perry to seal the victory. Montgomery said. "I know Dallas took a 2-1 lead with Minnesota outshot Dal- has six goals and six assists
"I just tried to pick a move a lot of people's numbers 5:51 to play when Comeau las 3-1 and controlled the in his last 13 games. ...
that I'm comfortable with," aren't where we'd like them finally beat Stalock after a puck for much of the extra The Stars had won five
said Koivu, who scored his to be, but if we play like flurry of prime scoring op- session. straight and seven of nine
42nd career shootout goal that I'm pretty sure we're portunities. "At this point, maybe get- against the Wild.q
in 106 attempts. "It's always
a challenge to go to the
shootout against the goal-
tending in this league. But
yeah. It was a good feel-
ing."
Kevin Fiala had a goal and
an assist and Zach Parise
also scored for the Wild.
Both also scored in the first
three rounds of the shoot-
out, but Joe Pavelski and
Tyler Seguin countered for
Dallas. That forced Wild
coach Bruce Boudreau's
hand when deciding on a
fourth shooter.
"I didn't know what I was
doing, quite frankly," said
Boudreau, whose team is
6-0-3 in its last nine games.
"Initially I wasn't going to
put (Koivu) in because
he hadn't scored in the
shootout in like two years.
But I figured he was rested
because he didn't play in
overtime, and it was his day
… all the stars were shining
in the right direction, so go
out there and win it."
Blake Comeau and John
Klingberg scored for Dal-
las and Bishop stopped 27
shots. The Stars have lost
three in a row after a 14-1-
1 run.
After averaging 3.9 goals
per game in their hot
stretch, the Stars have
managed just three goals
in their three-game losing
streak. But Dallas coach
Jim Montgomery isn't hit-
ting the panic button just
yet.