Wild in 2-1 win over Canadiens

Darcy Kuemper began last season as Minnesota's primary goalie, Jack Eichel Jerseyuntil Devan Dubnyk's arrival denied him the opportunity to establish some consistency and play out of his slumps. A relief role has not diminished Kuemper's confidence or his value to the Wild. Jason Pominville and Charlie Coyle scored, Kuemper earned another victory with 24 saves and the Wild beat teetering Montreal 2-1 on Tuesday night to stick the Canadiens with their fifth straight loss. ''It's nice when you http://www.officialsabresteamshop.com/Womens_Youth_Jack_Eichel_Jersey get to play. You can get into a rhythm, and I'm just trying to keep it right now,'' said Kuemper, who improved to 4-0-2 with a 1.26 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage in six games this month. Dubnyk is healthy again after a groin injury, but Kuemper was in net because the Wild played 24 hours earlier and lost 6-3 to Dallas. ''He seemed more confident than anybody else that he was capable of it, and that's not to say we doubted him,'' http://www.officialsabresteamshop.com/Womens_Youth_Jack_Eichel_Jersey coach Mike Yeo said. ''It's just he was up and down last year. He was even up and down to start the year really, even though he didn't play in a lot of games, but his actions tell us that he was telling the truth.'' Daniel Carr spoiled the shutout bid by scoring between Kuemper's pads with 7:14 remaining, giving the Canadiens some life in what was a tight-checking, neutral-zone-centric game from start to finish. Kuemper and the Wild clamped down from there, dropping the Canadiens to 1-9 in their last 10 games. ''We're starting to help out more Connor McDavid Jerseyand more and he's still shutting the door for us, and that's huge,'' Coyle said. Mike Condon stopped 20 shots for the Canadiens, who have been outscored 19-5 during their losing streak. They have 15 goals in the last 10 games. For fans of the iconic franchise, and for the players, too, remembering that 19-4-3 record they had Dec. 1 is difficult to do considering this nasty skid. ''We meet often. We talk often. It doesn't really need to be aired out there. I think what we need to do http://www.officialoilersteamshop.com/Womens_Youth_Connor_Mcdavid_Jerseyis stick with it. We've done a lot of good things,'' said leading scorer Max Pacioretty, who has one goal and one assist over the last 10 games. Coach Michel Therrien put the pressure this week on his goalies, Condon and Dustin Tokarski, to raise their play in light of all the losing. But the Canadiens just couldn't generate any kind of an attack in their third of eight straight road games. ''When you don't have a lot of space on the ice, it comes down to mistakes and we had two big ones that ended up costing us the goals,'' Therrien said. With Mikael Granlund in the first period and Zach Parise in the third period, the Wild could have scored twice more. Both no-goal calls were upheld by replay reviews, prompting resounding boos from the crowd.