EDMONTON, Alberta - Devan Dubnyk stymied his former team, turning aside 15 shots for his sixth shutout of the season as the surging Minnesota Wild shut out the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 on Friday.
Dubnyk continued his emergence as one of the top netminders in the league, improving to 12-2-1 with five shutouts since joining the Wild in a trade with Arizona. Justin Fontaine scored twice while Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Schroeder also tallied for Minnesota.
Ben Scrivens made 25 saves for the Oilers, who were shut out for the sixth time this season. The 15 shots were the fewest Edmonton had registered since Jan. 13.
Fontaine kicked off the scoring just past the midway point of the opening period, redirecting defenseman Christian Folin’s point shot past Scrivens’ right shoulder. Niederreiter doubled the advantage just under five minutes later as he pounced on the rebound of captain Mikko Koivu’s bad-angle shot in the slot and fired it past Scrivens.
Schroeder made it a 3-0 game with 4:10 remaining in the second period, streaking into the offensive zone and converting a slick pass by Thomas Vanek for his third goal of the season. Fontaine capped the victory - and his first multi-goal performance since Jan. 9, 2014 - by gathering Zach Parise’s feed and beating Scrivens with 1:15 left.
r Edmonton failed to convert the only power play of the contest, which was awarded when Wild D Nate Prosser was called for tripping 8:05 into the third period.
r Parise and Koivu each recorded a pair of assists. The two-point performance by Koivu was the 114th of his career, tying Marian Gaborik for first place on the franchise list.
Minnesota 4, Edmonton 0
Minnesota 21 1- 4
Edmonton 00 0- 0
First Period-1, Minnesota, Fontaine 6 (Folin, Parise) 10:18. 2, Minnesota, Niederreiter 19 (Koivu, Brodin) 15:06.
Second Period-3, Minnesota, Schroeder 3 (Vanek, Koivu) 15:50.
Third Period-4, Minnesota, Fontaine 7 (Parise, Granlund) 18:45. Penalties-Prosser, MIN (Tripping), 8:05.
Shots on Goal-Minnesota 8-13-8-29. Edmonton 5-5-5-15.
Power-play opportunities- Edmonton 0 of 1.
Goalies-Minnesota Dubnyk 20-7-3 (15 shots-15 saves). Edmonton Scrivens 11-17-7 (29-25).
A-16,839 (16,839). T-2:15.
