ST. PAUL, Minn. – Niklas Backstrom has been on the short end of more shootouts than not, one blemish on an otherwise-stellar record for the Minnesota Wild goalie since he joined the team five years ago.
After watching Nikolai Khabibulin turn away shot after shot in regulation on the other end, Backstrom stepped up and refused to lose this one.
Devin Setoguchi scored in the fourth round of the shootout, spoiling a strong night by Khabibulin for the Oilers and sending the Wild to a 2-1 victory Thursday.
“I was really happy for him,” said coach Mike Yeo, who walked to the end of the bench and patted Backstrom on the back before the shootout began.
“It looked like he said, ‘You’re not beating me. You’re not beating me this time.’”
Backstrom gave up a goal in the first round to Jordan Eberle before stopping three straight attempts to seal the win. After dropping a shootout decision at Ottawa on Tuesday, Backstrom improved his career record in those situations to 13-25. He’s 2-9 in his last 11 shootouts.
But the stone-faced Finn brushed off the significance the same way he did those pucks during the game.
“To be honest, when I go to the game I don’t
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