ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mikko Koivu scored twice, Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves in a surprise appearance and the Minnesota Wild beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Monday night.
Dubnyk suffered a cut on his arm in practice Sunday and had to have stitches. He was expected to sit, but Darcy Kuemper was announced out with an upper-body injury about an hour before the game.
Charlie Coyle scored for the third time in four games for Minnesota. Koivu scored a power-play goal in the third and added an empty-net tally for Minnesota, which had lost three of four.
Pavel Datsyuk scored his fourth goal of the season for Detroit. Petr Mrazek made 32 saves for the Red Wings.
Dubnyk has been Minnesota’s stalwart in net, but Kuemper filled in when Dubnyk was hurt earlier in the month and posted a 4-0-3 record in the month with a 1.26 goals-against average and .947 save percentage.
Kuemper’s emergence has provided the Wild another steady option and Dubynk was going to receive the night off after being cut by a shot in practice.
Dubnyk continued his own strong run and was perfect until Datsyuk scored with just over 2 minutes remaining.
Coyle’s goal midway through the first period looked like it could be the deciding tally. Nino Niederreiter won a battle for the puck along the boards and centred to Coyle, who deked past Detroit defenceman Brendan Smith and sent a quick shot through Mrazek’s glove side.
Detroit had secured a point in five straight road games.
NOTES: Detroit F Dylan Larkin made his return after missing one game with a lower-body injury. Larkin leads all rookies with 13 goals this season. D Jonathan Ericsson has returned to practice but was scratched for the fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. … Wild F Justin Fontaine was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. He has one goal and three assists in 13 games since returning from a knee injury. … Detroit plays the second game of a back-to-back on Tuesday night at Winnipeg. Jimmy Howard is expected to start in goal.
