Wild defeat Ducks for 10th straight home win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild won their 10th straight game at home, 3-2 against the Anaheim Ducks at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.

Nico Sturm broke a tie off a misplayed puck by Ducks goalie Ryan Miller to make it 3-2 at 7:01 of the second period.
"Yeah, it was a fluky one, but they don't ask how, right?" Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said of Sturm's goal, which came after Miller failed to cover the puck on a dump-in.
Jared Spurgeon scored twice, and Cam Talbot made 28 saves for Minnesota (20-10-1), which has won two in a row and seven of nine.
"We didn't play our best, but the good thing is we know that," Spurgeon said. "We're not sitting here saying we played a great game. We have a big test tomorrow (against the St. Louis Blues) and we have to get ready for that one."
Derek Grant and Max Comtois scored for Anaheim (9-19-6), which lost here 2-1 on Monday. Miller made 23 saves.
"I'm not going to lie, it's hard. It's extremely tough [in these losses]," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "We've got all of our guys tonight, basically to a man, work their tails off. They were very in sync in a lot of the game. I have very little issues with our play. I thought we played hard, I thought we played smart. We got a bad bounce that ends up in our net."

Spurgeon redirected a pass from Suter at 7:46 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Grant tied it 1-1 24 seconds later with a shot from an awkward angle.
Spurgeon gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead on the power play with 8 seconds left in the period on another redirection of a Suter pass. It was Suter's 600th NHL point in his 1,173rd game.
"I really didn't have to do much. [Suter] just banked them off my stick and they went in," Spurgeon said. "But as a group, I think every night, there's going to be someone different [scoring]."
Comtois tied it 2-2 22 seconds into the second period, redirecting a pass from Isac Lundestrom. It was his first goal in 10 games; he was a healthy scratch Monday.
"It's no different than everybody in life. I had five bad days at the office and it's a little reset, and I was ready to go tonight," Comtois said. "Life is about character and how you bounce back when you've got less good times, and I think I did a pretty good job tonight and I just have to keep going for the rest of the year."

The Wild host the Blues, playing them for the first time this season, on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-MW).
"It was not a pretty game," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. "I've seen some not-so-pretty games in this league, and that one wasn't, and it's a lot to do with what we did and how we played. You never want to obviously complain about two points … but there's a lot of things that we can do better. A lot of things we can simplify within our game and get back to doing well what we do and play with that energy and that pace. But best part is we did get two points and we can get after a game tomorrow night."
NOTES: Wild forward Zach Parise was placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol Wednesday; Joseph Cramarossa took his place in the lineup. He had four hits in 10:56 of ice time. … The Ducks canceled practice Tuesday because of COVID-19 concerns; defensemen Ben Hutton and Jacob Larsson, forward Danton Heinen and goalie Anthony Stolarz entered COVID-19 protocol later that day. … The Wild winning streak at home is the longest in their history. They won eight in a row here from Nov. 23-Dec. 29, 2016.