Stalock, Wild shut out Maple Leafs

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Alex Stalock made 28 saves, and the Minnesota Wild won their fourth straight game, 2-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday.

It was Stalock's fifth NHL shutout and his first since March 2, 2015, for the San Jose Sharks against the Montreal Canadiens. Stalock (5-3-1) started in place of Devan Dubnyk, who is week to week with a lower-body injury sustained in the first period of a 2-1 shootout victory against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
"Thanks for the reminder. It's been that long?" Stalock said. "That's good. Anytime you can do that it's fun, obviously. That's a team shutout, man. It was making saves that I needed to, really, like I talked about this morning, and it was a great team game. That's what we talked about all day."
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Wild highlights]
Minnesota (17-11-3) has won five in a row at home and is 7-0-1 in its past eight home games. The Wild are 6-1-0 in their past seven games overall and 12-4-1 in their past 17.
After being a healthy scratch Tuesday, Wild forward Tyler Ennis scored on a wraparound at 18:06 of the first period to make it 1-0.

"It was my first time being a healthy scratch, so obviously it's tough," Ennis said. "Nobody wants to be in the press box. But you've got to be determined, you've got to continue to get better. We got to keep rolling."
Mikael Granlund made it 2-0 at 8:06 of the third when Eric Staal backhanded a pass from behind the Maple Leafs net to Granlund, who scored on a one-timer.
Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for Toronto (20-12-1), which lost its second straight and was shut out for the first time this season. Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

"I think we're just doubting ourselves too much, we're not trusting ourselves with the puck, we're giving it away too much," Toronto forward Mitch Marner said. "I think everyone in general in here has a lot more skill than we think and we've got to start using that more on the ice and trust each other with the puck. I think when we start doing that it's going to come out on the ice, it's going to show and then we're going to get more opportunities."

Goal of the game

Ennis' goal at 18:06 of the first period.

Save of the game

Stalock's save on Patrick Marleau at 12:29 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Granlund's one-timer at 8:06 of the third.

They said it

"They played tight, but we're seeing the League's real tight anyway. Teams are desperate each and every night and you're getting a good, quality game. I don't think there's a whole lot of room out there when you play most teams. We knew coming in what to expect, we got exactly what we expected and in the end they found a way to win." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"When we can band together like that that's what makes a positive and we're starting to have success at home and making it difficult for other teams to come into this building. That's good." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Need to know

Toronto was 0-for-4 on the power play and is 3-for-19 in its past nine games. … Andersen has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of his past 15 starts. … Staal has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in the past 15 games. … Minnesota scored a goal in the third period for the first time in six games.

What's next

Maple Leafs: At the Detroit Red Wings on Friday (7:30 p.m ET; FS-D, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Wild: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNW, NHL.TV)