Veilleux scores twice in Wild's victory

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Stephane Veilleux scored twice and Niklas Backstrom made 36 saves to help the Minnesota Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 on Sunday night in a matchup of teams scrambling to climb into the playoff picture.

Wrapping up a six-game road swing with their second win of the trip, the Wild overtook the Ducks in the Western Conference standings. Minnesota is 10th, still two spots out of a playoff berth.

Veilleux, known more for his physical play than his scoring, scored just 1:08 in, then added a second-period goal that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead. The multigoal game was only the second of his career.

Andrew Brunette added an insurance goal with 8:11 left, taking James Sheppard's pass from near the goal line and beating goalie Jonas Hiller with a shot from the slot.

The Wild needed that goal — after the Ducks pulled goalie Jonas Hiller, and Scott Niedermayer scored for Anaheim with 22 seconds remaining.

Veilleux scored his second of the game and 10th of the season on a breakaway, having a clear run at Hiller after a Ducks' turnover near mid-ice. Not giving Hiller time to react as he skated down on the goal, Veilleux ripped a slap shot into the top left corner of the net.

Hiller faced 25 shots.

Niedermayer's goal was his 46th for Anaheim, setting a franchise record for a defenseman. He broke a tie with Oleg Tverdovsky.

Todd Marchant scored the Ducks' first goal, evening it at 1 with a fine individual play, a short-handed goal at 5:10 of the second period.

Marchant chased after a length-of-ice, dump-in pass that went behind the Minnesota net, where Backstrom controlled the puck and tried to tap it to Marc-Andre Bergeron as Bergeron skated past. Marchant skated right into the middle of what should have been a routine exchange, stole the puck, quickly went around the right post and poked it in the net as Backstrom frantically tried to scramble around the left post.

Veilleux gave the Wild a 1-0 lead while many of the fans were still making their way to their seats. Veilleux snapped off a wrist shot that got past Hiller.

Notes:@ Marchant's short-handed goal was Anaheim's fifth of the season, and the fifth given up by Minnesota. ... Backstrom, who got a four-year, $24 million contract extension, five games ago, had been pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots in Minnesota's 4-3 loss to Los Angeles on Saturday. ... The Ducks returned from a 3-2-1 trip to lose 3-2 to Dallas on Friday night in Anaheim. ... Minnesota was tied for seventh in the conference before beginning its six-game road trip.







Kasahara