Wild Sneak Past Montreal Friday Night In St. Paul

The Minnesota Wild defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 Friday night at Xcel Energy Center. Jason Pominville led the Wild with two goals and an assist.

Rookie forward Justin Fontaine started the scoring with his fourth goal of the season at 5:45 of the first period, with assists credited to Keith Ballard and Torrey Mitchell.

The lead was short lived, as Montreal's Brendan Gallagher knotted the game at one just 25 seconds later.

Pominville scored his first goal of the night at 8:41 of the second period on a pass from Mikael Granlund to make the score 2-1 in favor of Minnesota at the second intermission.

Nino Neiderreiter scored his third of the season early in the third period to give the Wild a 3-1 lead, with Granlund and Pominville getting the assists.

The Canadiens made a run at goalie Josh Harding and the Wild with back-to-back goals to tie the game 3-3 with ten minutes left in regulation.

However, Pominville came through with his second goal of the game, and ninth of the season, after a deflected shot off the stick of defenseman Keith Ballard found its way to Pominville's tape and into the back of the net.

Josh Harding returned from injury to make 28 saves on 31 shots for Minnesota to earn the win.