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Perreault's late OT winner sends Ducks past Wild

Oct 6, 2013 - 3:48 AM St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Mathieu Perreault's first goal of the season was the overtime winner, coming with less than five seconds left, giving Anaheim a 4-3 victory over Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center.

Francois Beauchemin threaded the needle to the speedy winger, acquired from Washington prior to the start of the season, and Perreault beat Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom through the pads on the backhand to end the contest.

"He sure is dynamic, and that's why we had him out there in overtime," said Anaheim head coach Bruce Boudreau.

The Ducks were coming off a season-opening 6-1 defeat to the Avalanche in Denver on Wednesday. Saku Koivu, Nick Bonino and Jakob Silfverberg lit the lamp, Beauchemin supplied two assists and Jonas Hiller stopped 30 shots for the visitors.

Zach Parise lit the lamp twice and Jason Pominville once for the Wild, while Backstrom was on the hook for all four scores on 30 shots in defeat.

Anaheim pumped home a pair of goals in the game's first six minutes, with Koivu opening the scoring at 1:40 and Bonino doubling the edge on the advantage with 5:43 played.

Parise put the hosts on the board with 8:08 left in the opening period, taking a blind, backhanded feed from Koivu and scoring from in front.

Silfverberg restored the Ducks' two-goal margin just 1:19 into the second thanks to a one timer from the inner edge of the right circle, before Pominville recorded his first of the season at 8:28 with a blast from the right circle.

Parise struck again to knot the game, 3-3, just 75 seconds after the start of the third, by sneaking a shot through Hiller's pads from atop the crease.

"It was the second game of the season. I'm not going to say anything bad about anyone," said Wild head coach Mike Yeo.

Game Notes

Perreault was acquired by the Ducks on Sunday for prospect forward John Mitchell and a fourth-round draft pick in 2014 ... Pominville, who was dealt to the Wild at last season's trade deadline, was signed to a five-year contract extension on Thursday ... Minnesota's seventh-overall pick in this year's draft, defenseman Matt Dumba, made his NHL debut with one shot on net in 10:22 of ice time.