The view from Minnesota

The Minnesota Wild just keep on rolling. Even with a third-strong, rookie goalie, and without a couple top forwards, the Wild didn’t skip a beat Thursday, as they improved to 11-2-0 in their last 13 and won a franchise-record sixth consecutive road game. Here’s how the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press covered last night’s game, followed by some additional postgame quotes from the Wild’s locker room…

Wild wins sixth in a row on road (Star Tribune)

Wild return to scene of one of their season lows as a team on a roll (Pioneer Press)

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COACH MIKE YEO
(on the game…) “It was nice to have a good start. It was nice not to have to sit here and talk about another attempt or a great job coming from behind, and I thought we were sharp right from the get-go. We expected them to have a push. Certainly it was tough losing (Brodziak) tonight and I thought our guys really rose to the challenge.’’

(on losing Brodziak…) “Obviously it increased a lot of ice time for (Koivu), (Cullen) and for the lines. We started to roll those lines real frequently, but also with Cody Almond. I thought not only did he step into that situation and play key minutes for us, but that was a big goal he scored. They had some good momentum going at that time and you could tell that took a lot of life out of them.’’

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MATT HACKETT
(on winning his first two NHL games…) “I can’t even explain it. It’s been crazy. Best 72 hours of my life so far. Like I said, we’ve got to keep it going and I’m just living the dream right now. Just got to jump in there and do the best you can. Today, I had time to think about the game. Usually I have a pre-game nap, but I was so excited I didn’t really get to sleep. I was just focusing on what I was supposed to do and I felt like it went pretty well tonight.’’

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MARCO SCANDELLA
(on his goal…) “We got the puck, brought it up the ice quick, two guys were driving to the net, so I picked it up and (Heatley) gave me a great pass. Great play by (Heatley) and I tried to get a shot off quick. … I knew there was a delayed penalty, so as soon as they touched the puck it would have been frozen, so I went for it.’’

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