MONTREAL — Brandon Duhaime was idling on the bench for almost 10 minutes, a mid-game timeout precipitated by the Wild and Canadiens taking turns on the power play.
But Duhaime wasn't rusty from the break.
When he finally rejoined the action, he scored the tie-breaking goal to send the Wild to a much-needed 3-1 win over the Canadiens on Tuesday at Bell Centre and polish off an effective two-point night for the second-year winger.
After getting promoted from the fourth line, Duhaime orchestrated most of the Wild's offense.
During a 3-on-1 rush with his new linemates, his shot caught a piece of Montreal goalie Jake Allen but the rebound bounced off the end boards to the side of the net where Joel Eriksson Ek swatted the puck behind Allen just 5 minutes, 52 seconds into the first period.
A Cole Caufield shot from the right side slipped inside the near post 1:07 into the second period to erase the Canadiens' deficit before a special teams battle ensued.
Each side took two penalties apiece, a scoreless struggle with both power plays finishing 0-for-3.
But the Wild reignited when Duhaime returned.
He accepted a Frederick Gaudreau pass to skate in alone vs. Allen and deked before lifting in the go-ahead goal at 12:48 during just his second shift of the period; Duhaime ended up being inactive for 9:56 before he scored.
This gave him a goal in back-to-back games for the first time in his career after the 25-year-old also capitalized last Saturday at Boston off a shorthanded breakaway. Duhaime has only one other two-point effort in his NHL career, another goal-and-assist performance Nov. 7, 2021, vs. the Islanders as a rookie.
As for Gaudreau, his assist on the game-winner sealed his first point of the season.
Add in a clean close to the second and perfect third period for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, which included keeping out a Montreal penalty shot, and the Wild improved to 2-3-1 with three games to go on this five-game road trip.
After Jon Merrill impeded Mike Hoffman during a breakaway, Hoffman was awarded a penalty shot 5:50 into the third that Fleury blocked with his left pad. The save was the 14th in Wild history against 22 penalty shots, and Fleury is 22-for-28 in his career.
Overall, he racked up 26 stops in his 944th game to seize sole possession of sixth place on the NHL's all-time list for games by a goaltender. Allen had 28 at the other end; he was on the bench when Eriksson Ek dumped his second goal of the game into an empty net with 30 seconds to go.
