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Koivu, potent power play propel Wild past Predators

Nov 30, 2008 - 5:06 AM By Jim Diamond PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Captain Mikko Koivu recorded two goals and an assist as the Minnesota Wild posted a 6-2 triumph over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Andrew Brunette, Owen Nolan and Craig Weller netted a power-play goal apiece for Minnesota, which went 5-for-11 with the man advantage.

Antti Miettinen notched three assists and Brunette set up a pair of goals as the Wild improved to 3-1-0 in their last four games.

Making his first start since October 30, Josh Harding made 25 saves to earn his first victory of the season.

"Whenever I am called upon, it is my job as a backup goalie to try to give the team a chance to win, and tonight I think I definitely did that," Harding said. "At the beginning, I was a little shaky, but the defense made it pretty easy on me."

Captain Jason Arnott and David Legwand scored and Dan Ellis turned aside 23 shots for Nashville, which fell to 2-3-1 in its last six contests.

"It seems like we get more into penalty trouble at home than we do on the road," Arnott said. "That is something we have to discuss, otherwise, it is going to be a long season."

The Wild scored five power-play goals in a road game for the first time in franchise history. The five tallies with the man advantage tied a Nashville franchise record set October 7, 2006 in its 6-5 loss at Minnesota.

"You start the game, you get two power-play goals, and everyone feels good," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "If you get a couple of goals at the start and keep playing hard, that doesn't make it easy for the opponent."

Bouchard scored the game's first goal at 6:56 of the opening period.

With the Wild on a two-man advantage, Miettinen slid a pass from the left faceoff dot to Bouchard at the right dot. Bouchard ripped a slap shot over the glove of Ellis for his third goal of the season.

"We are beating ourselves, not getting beaten by other teams," Ellis said. "When you go into the box as many times as we did against one of the top power plays in the league, you expect to give that team a little life."

A former Predator, Brunette doubled the Wild's lead just 35 seconds later with another power-play goal.

Koivu carried the puck into the Nashville zone along the left side. From the top of the circle, he slid a pass to Brunette along the right side. Brunette redirected the puck by Ellis for his eighth goal of the season.

"Of course you are going to have some tough nights where you can't get one on the power play, but tonight it just seemed like everything was going in for us," Koivu said. "That was a big win for us."

"We took too many penalties and got beaten by a very good power play," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We've been down 2-0 in three of our last six games, and every one of them is due to compounding penalties in the first period."