Jared Coreau got his first start in five games and Thomas Vanek missed the game with a lower-body injury.
1. Anthony Mantha: It's never easy on a back-to-back in less than 24 hours but Mantha seemed to find a second gear, especially in the second period. Mantha looked fast and aggressive, going to the net hard. At 6:56, Mantha beat All-Star Devan Dubnyk for his 13th goal of the season. Vanek and Andreas Athanasiou, who scored at 4:34 of the third, lead the team with 14. Mantha also got an assist later in the second. He finished with five shots on goal. Athanasiou led the team with six shots.
Quotable: "I just think that we did the simple things today. We put a lot of pucks at the net, even yesterday night, I think. The three of us combined got 14 shots on net. We know we need to crash the net and that's just the mentality we have on our line. Obviously Hank and Gus work pretty hard in the corners to get pucks and we're just trying to create some traffic in the front." - Mantha
2. Henrik Zetterberg: It was an odd play, with the puck bouncing in the air but Zetterberg managed to bat it past Dubnyk at 15:39 of the second, a little over a minute after the Wild had taken a 3-1 lead. Zetterberg also got his 13th goal of the season, now tied with Mantha for second on the team. In 41 career games against Minnesota, Zetterberg has 16-24-40.
Quotable: "We were in the box a little too much today. Even though I thought they made some bang-bang plays on the power play and they scored on them, but it's hard to be down like that. Five-on-five I thought we played really good, created a lot of good chances. It was a tight game all the way into the third. Probably that fifth goal killed kind of killed the game. It's frustrating." - Zetterberg
3. Gustav Nyquist: The third member of the Wings' top-producing line, Nyquist had an assist on Mantha's goal but it was his actions in the first period that has drawn attention. Nyquist and Jared Spurgeon were among those fighting for the puck along the boards. Spurgeon gave Nyquist a little bit of a shove and Nyquist came up and his stick hit Spurgeon in the face at 14:13. Nyquist received a double-minor for high-sticking.
Quotable: "Well, it was completely accidental. Obviously I didn't mean to do that. My stick gets caught. I'm trying to get body position on. I'm happy he was out there again. I had no intention of doing that. My stick gets caught. It looks bad but I'm happy he's OK. Obviously I've got to have better control of my stick but completely accidental." - Nyquist
Quotable II: " I know he got his stick up there but I also know I've known Nyquie for six-plus years. There's no chance there was any intent. I've seen him in every possible situation. There's no chance there was any intent. Other than that, I didn't look at that play. I looked at plays that were going to affect us winning or losing." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill
