TORONTO — Eric Staal never has trouble finding motivation when he’s up against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Staal continued his career success against Toronto, scoring what turned out to be the game winner as the Minnesota Wild beat the Maple Leafs 3-2 on Wednesday to conclude their five-game road trip.
Staal, from Thunder Bay, Ont., has 47 points in 43 career games against Toronto. Three of his six goals this season have come against the Maple Leafs.
“It was a team I grew up watching so I always have a little spot in my heart for the Leafs because of growing up with Hockey Night in Canada there in Thunder Bay and people there are Leafs fans, that’s who they watch and I was no different as a kid,” said the 32-year-old centre.
“Every time I get a chance to play in this building against this team or whether it’s home or away you always want to have a good night and I’ve been fortunate to have some good ones and tonight was nice to be on the winning end of it.”
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Toronto entered the third period down a goal and pushed hard, but couldn’t get the equalizer because of Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk, who stopped all 17 shots his way in the final 20 minutes and 35 in total.
The 30-year-old Regina native, who stands six-foot-six, leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.65) save percentage (.946) and shutouts (four).
“He seems to go down in that butterfly and post to post is covered, he does a great job fighting traffic and tonight he made a few timely saves,” said Toronto’s Nazem Kadri.
Frederik Andersen kicked out 17-of-20 shots for Toronto (10-10-5), which dropped to 8-4-0 at Air Canada Centre.
The Leafs came out with energy and looked eager to score in the opening minutes of the game.
Minnesota (13-8-4) opened the scoring 8:42 into the first period, however, after forcing a turnover from Kadri behind his own net.
Mikko Koivu stripped Kadri and made a short pass to Mikael Granlund, who then put the puck out front to Zucker and he beat Andersen blocker side.
Momentum quickly swung Minnesota’s way after Zucker’s goal.
Andersen was forced to make a fine pad save on Granlund from the slot, but moments later Chris Stewart made it 2-0 when he was sprung in alone on a breakaway with a long pass from Jared Spurgeon.
It was the first goal scored at the ACC for Stewart, who grew up in Toronto and had family in the crowd watching.
“I’ve been thinking about that one my whole life,” said Stewart. “It’s good to get it off the bucket list.”
Ben Smith got one back for Toronto with 3:10 to go in the period on a play that started harmlessly.
Kadri crossed Minnesota’s blue line and put a shot on net that Dubnyk kicked out to the slot, where Smith was waiting to bang it home for a 2-1 game.
“I thought we started real good, dominated the first couple shifts, but we made big mistakes on their goals,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock.
Staal regained the two-goal lead for the Wild just 1:15 into the second period, putting a backhand past Andersen after taking a pass from behind the net from Charlie Coyle.
“He seems to have our number and scores against us a lot, wish we could have done a better job shutting him down,” said Bozak.
Bozak responded with an individual effort to make it 3-2 at 10:54, stealing the puck in Minnesota’s end, undressing defenceman Matt Dumba and beating Dubnyk with a backhand up top.
Rookie William Nylander started the game centring the fourth line, but was moved to the wing alongside Leo Komarov and Kadri in the second period by a frustrated Babcock as Toronto tried to fight its way back into the game.
“Reality is for him to play centre in this league he needs to get way better defensively, way more competitive,” said Babcock. “(In) a situation where we’re behind he’s a guy who can shoot the puck in the net.”
Toronto had one final opportunity to even the score late when Ryan Suter took a minor penalty, but Minnesota killed it off and held on.
“I told the guys, ‘it may not look it, but my insides are really happy right now,'” said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau.
“We held on, I mean, we didn’t do anything in the third period, but at the end of an 11-day trip to win in a tough building to win in it was pretty good.”
Notes: Linesmen Steve Miller took a Roman Polak slap shot in the left knee in the opening minute of the third period and instantly dropped to the ice in pain. He eventually skated off the ice with assistance and didn’t return, leaving the game to be finished with three officials instead of four.
