Andersen, Maple Leafs top Wild

TORONTO -- Frederik Andersen made 35 saves to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
Nazem Kadri, Patrick Marleau, Connor Carrick and Connor Brown scored for the Maple Leafs (10-7-0), who have won back-to-back games.

Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews did not play and is day-to-day because of an upper-body injury. It ended a streak of 98 consecutive games played since he entered the NHL in 2016.
Andersen changed his typical morning routine before facing the Wild, opting to take the ice for about three minutes in a track suit at an optional morning skate. He usually works with goaltending coach Steve Briere in full equipment whether the Maple Leafs hold a full or optional morning skate.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
"I guess I have to go test my skates out every day now," Andersen said. "It's more of maintaining and making sure your body is rested. Sometimes you have to listen to our sports science guys. When you get a good feeling, you want to try to replicate that kind of mindset. Once you get that mindset, you feel better in the game and better before the game."
Jason Zucker scored twice and Devan Dubnyk made 15 saves for the Wild (5-7-2), who have lost three straight games and four of their past five.
"We played a great hockey game, we generated a lot and had the puck for the vast majority of the game," Dubnyk said. "We were real close to getting another goal. [Andersen] played well and we were creating a lot. If you play a game like that, you're going to end up right side more often than not; we have to stick to that."

Marleau took a pass from Zach Hyman in the slot and put a shot between Dubnyk's legs at 3:47 to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.
The Wild had three power plays in the second period but failed to score.
Carrick made it 3-1 when his point shot deflected off Gustav Olofsson, who was trying to cover Matt Martin in the slot, and past Dubnyk at 3:40 of the third period.
"You don't stand a chance unless there's somebody standing in the way and it hits someone or he doesn't see it," Carrick said. "You're not beating a goalie clean fading away from however many feet away I was; just no chance in this league."
Dubnyk said, "It wasn't even really on net. It was heading into the corner."

Zucker scored a power-play goal at 15:01 of the third period when he put in a rebound at the top of the goal crease from Eric Staal's shot to make it 3-2.
Brown scored into an empty net with 31 seconds left in the third period.
Kadri gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 12:56 of the first period when he deflected Morgan Rielly's point shot in the slot. The puck banked off the end boards and went in after hitting Dubnyk in the back of his left skate.
Zucker tied it 1-1 when he put a rebound from Staal's shot past Andersen's glove at 18:15.

Goal of the game

Carrick's game-winning goal at 3:40 of the third period.

Save of the game

Andersen's right-pad save against Matt Cullen at 3:15 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Marleau's goal at 3:47 of the second period.

They said it

"It's night and day. Obviously our last game (a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday) was a terrible effort, terrible game for us. Tonight, we wanted to come in and do what we did. Obviously we didn't get the end result we wanted, but I thought it was a step towards the right direction. The only way out of this is just hard work and we've got to get to work." -- Wild defenseman Ryan Suter
"All in all, it was a good night for us, good for our goaltender too. Confidence is an important thing; it's hard to get in the League. It was a good night for him." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock

Need to know

Babcock was unsure if Matthews would be able to return by Friday to face the Bruins. "I don't have a clue, honest to God," Babcock said. "You can't go to a guy and ask him every day, you're putting pressure on a guy, it's not like that. When he's ready, they'll tell me and we'll get him in."... Marleau's goal was No. 514 of his NHL career, moving him past Jeremy Roenick into 39th on the all-time list. ... Wild center Mikko Koivu had a game-high seven shots on goal.

What's next

Wild: At the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Boston Bruins on Friday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, NESN, NHL.TV)