Wild's grit evident in hard-fought loss to Flames

ST. PAUL -- Ryan Suter fought a man during a hockey game for the first time in nearly a decade. Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk went after defenseman Matt Dumba 40 seconds in. At one point early in the second period, Suter, Luke Kunin, Zach Parise and Matt Hendricks were squeezed into the Xcel Energy Center penalty box like sardines. Jordan Greenway grinned through a swollen lip held together by stitches after sniping a second-period goal.
The Wild fell to the Flames on Saturday afternoon for the second time in 10 days. But it also showcased a grown man's dosage of grit.

"That was a good hockey game," forward Matt Hendricks said after Minnesota's 2-1 defeat in front of 18,882 fans. "It was just two teams coming together; it was a battle game tonight, for sure, a little bit of old school. You could hear it during warmups. A lot of verbal stuff getting thrown around, so it was a good hockey game."
Playing without captain Mikko Koivu, who suffered a lower-body injury the last time these teams tangled Dec. 6 in Calgary, and winger Jason Zucker, who missed Saturday's game with an illness, was difficult to begin with. But the Wild spent the final 40 minutes rotating five defensemen after Dumba left the contest with an undisclosed injury.
All this in a game that saw three fights in the first period, a total of 13 infractions, and 44 penalty minutes doled out.
"I thought we played pretty well," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It was a good hockey game. It was just who was going to get the better opportunity in the third period, and once they did, they played pretty well defensively. In games like that, you're probably not going to get a lot of chances each way, and that's what happened."

Boudreau didn't have an update on Dumba after the game but did suggest Koivu, who practiced Friday, will be back in time for Tuesday's home game against San Jose. In the meantime, Boudreau will have to weigh options among slotting in Nate Prosser or making a call-up from Iowa.
In any case, continued toughness will be paramount if the Wild (17-13-2) is to keep building off the good vibes borne from outscoring Montreal and Ottawa by a combined score of 12-2 here earlier this week.
This one was much tighter from even before the beginning, as both teams jawed during pregame warmups. It stemmed from last week's matchup out west, which saw Koivu kneed by defenseman Mark Giordano and a Dumba hit that injured the Flames' Mikael Backlund (who missed his fourth straight game Saturday).
Giordano was suspended two games for that hit on Koivu. Forward Ryan Lomberg received a one-game suspension for leaving the bench to retaliate against Dumba. The latter foul also incurred a $10,000 fine against Flames coach Bill Peters.
Lomberg was reassigned to the American Hockey League's Stockton Heat on Friday. But Giordano made his mark, this time by opening the scoring on a shorthanded marker in the first period.
In between, the afternoon's officiating crew had its hands full.
"I think that's not going to be our game all the time, but it's good when you see guys standing up for one another standing up for themselves," said Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced. "We don't have a bunch of fighters in here, but we've got a lot of guys who can take care of themselves, and you saw that. Once in a while, there's nothing wrong with that, and I thought kind of banded us together for having to battle with not a lot of bodies."

Tkachuk -- who scored the game-winner on a tough-luck ricochet at 8:45 of the third -- dropped the mitts on Dumba shortly after the opening faceoff. The Wild defenseman played the rest of the opening stanza, and the cause of his game-ending ailment remains unclear. Minnesota's training staff hadn't yet briefed Boudreau when the coached addressed the media following the contest.
The game became a series of skirmishes after that, highlighted by Hendricks challenging Giordano to a row in the corner after a net-front scuffle in Calgary's end with 2 minutes left in the first period. Moments later, Calgary (21-10-2) forward Sam Bennett began jostling Dumba, so Suter stepped in and did something he'd never done while wearing a Wild uniform.
"It was good to see everyone stuck up for each other and stuck together," Wild forward Zach Parise said of Suter, who along with Bennett received a five-minute fighting major. "You don't see him dropping too often."
Indeed, it was just the third fight of Suter's career and first since 2009.
Even after sitting in the box to end the first and begin the second, Suter played 29 minutes, 49 seconds and was instrumental in the defensive end, as usual, helping keep it close while Minnesota peppered Flames netminder David Rittich with 35 shots.
"I don't like it when he fights," Boudreau said of the three-time All-Star, "because it takes him 5 minutes out of the game."
Even without three of its top players for the final two frames, Minnesota kept the pressure ratcheted up against Rittich in a nip-and-tuck affair that didn't see plentiful scoring opportunities. Greenway capitalized on his for his fifth goal of the season, beating Rittich high to his glove side 3:30 into the second period to make it 1-1.

Greenway practiced with a cage facemask Friday after taking a stick to the chops from teammate Joel Eriksson Ek in Thursday's 5-1 victory over the Panthers. The rookie downgraded to a visor on Saturday but was still nursing a ballooned upper lip.
"We expect to be pretty emotional," Greenway said. "I think we responded well in the first, and then I think things kind of slowed down in the second. The momentum shifted, and we couldn't find the way to come back in the third."
Tkachuk's game-winner midway through the final period appeared to deflect off Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon after James Neal's centering pass bounced errantly off Minnesota's Nick Seeler and right to Tkachuk. Dubnyk said he wanted to watch the goal back a couple more times to figure out exactly what happened.
"It was kind of weird," Dubnyk said. "I felt like I put my hand where it was going, and then it never got to me, so I assumed it hit [Spurgeon] and stayed out because he did a good job coming across and screening me to get the guy in the short-side post.
"It was an unfortunate bounce to begin with to give to them, but that kind of stuff happens."
The Wild has Sunday off before returning to practice Monday and hosting the Sharks Tuesday. Minnesota and Calgary don't play again till March 2 at the Scotiabank Saddledome, their final meeting of the season.
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