The Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 for their third straight win Thursday night behind two power play goals from Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund.
Minnetonka native Jake Gardiner struck first, scoring at 7:33 in the second period to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead. But Koivu tied it up at 11:08 and Granlund sealed it in the third.
“It’s a good win for us,” Torchetti told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Moving forward, we’re going to have to win games 1-0 or 2-1 some nights. Just stay in it and make the extra play.”
The Wild were 3-18-6 after being scored on first this season. This was only Minnesota’s third win in 11 road games against the East.
“For us, that was a good test,” Torchetti told the PiPress. “We could’ve lost that game 2-1.”
Minnesota did not take any penalties against Toronto, something that drew the ire of Leafs coach Mike Babcock, who told the Minneapolis Star Tribune his team got “ripped off bigtime” and “the people didn’t pay to watch [the refs] play, they pay to watch the players.”
“I thought our kill was great tonight,” Torchetti said in jest.
“I came from the league they’re in. There are jobs to be had,” he added. “Good road win. I like the way we stuck to our gameplan. We didn’t try to get outside of it and force plays. It’s a 1-1 game. Just play within it.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press]
