MONTREAL — The Wild didn't bring its high-octane offense with it to Montreal, but the team still outscored the struggling Canadiens.
In one of its quieter performances of the season — and not just compared to the 5-4 overtime win on Sunday against the Sharks that clinched a playoff berth — the Wild eked out a 2-0 win on Tuesday at Bell Centre thanks to Kevin Fiala's 30th goal of the season, a highlight-reel play from Matt Boldy and a 26-save shutout by goaltender Cam Talbot.
Fiala is the Wild's third 30-goal scorer, a franchise high, while Talbot notched his 199th career victory with his third clean slate of the season and 27th overall in the NHL.
As for the Wild, this was its fifth victory over the last six games. The team has just one regulation loss (April 5 at Nashville) during the past 18 with six to go in the regular season.
On the heels of a dominating four-point effort, Fiala continued his dynamic play of late by scoring on the power play 6 minutes, 57 seconds into the first period when he connected on a Mats Zuccarello pass with a one-timer from the slot.
Zuccarello's assist was his franchise-leading 53rd of the season, while Kirill Kaprizov's helper counted as his 94th point. The Wild power play went 1 for 3, while Montreal was 0 for 3.
That lead held the rest of the first and through the second, although the Canadiens — who are second-to-last in the NHL — did get a puck behind Talbot in the middle period.
Tyler Pitlick pounced on a loose puck amid a scramble in front at 12:13, but the Wild challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was overturned. A video review showed Montreal's Laurent Dauphin collided with the Wild's Frederick Gaudreau, causing Gaudreau to bump Talbot and impair Talbot's ability to regain his positioning prior to the goal.
In the third period, Boldy doubled the Wild's advantage with one of the team's most impressive goals of the season.
After his initial shot went wide, Boldy finished the rebound off the end boards with a slick between-the-legs shot at 2:29.
The goal was Boldy's 15th and extended his career-long point streak to six games, a run in which the rookie's collected eight points. Fiala, who was named the NHL's second star of the week on Monday, also factored into the play, picking up an assist for his 14th point during a seven-game point streak. He has 20 multi-point games, and Fiala tied Zuccarello for second in scoring on the Wild at 75 points.
Talbot, who was busiest in the second period when his workload included stopping a breakaway from former teammate Rem Pitlick, improved his career-best point streak to 13 games and he's 11-0-3 during his last 14 starts. At the other end, Carey Price had 28 stops for the Canadiens.
This wrapped the team's Eastern Conference schedule with 23 wins and 50 points, and both totals are the most vs. the East in a single season.
Next up for the Wild is a return home for a pair of games Thursday (Vancouver) and Friday (Seattle) before the team has its final road test of the regular season on Sunday at Nashville. Ahead of that finale, the Wild is 21-14-5 as the visitor.
