ST. PAUL, Minn. _ Maybe, just maybe, the personality of this team is different than yesteryear.
In previous years, if the Wild were riding a four-game winning streak and facing a non-divisional opponent that didn't exactly get the blood boiling like heated adversaries from, say, Winnipeg or St. Louis, the Wild would be almost a sure-thing for a letdown.
But Tuesday night, the Wild didn't slam on the brakes. They kept the gas pedal pressed during a 5-1 pounding of the Florida Panthers to move into second place in the Central Division.
In improving to 7-1-3 in their past 11 games, the Wild got goals from their top three lines.
Line 1: Zach Parise snapped a seven-game goal drought and Eric Staal batted in a rebound of his own breakaway out of the air. Line 2: Jason Zucker had a goal and assist and Mikko Koivu scored his fifth goal in 10 games. Line 3: Erik Haula buried a rebound for the eventual winner.
Panthers killer Jason Pominville and Jonas Brodin had two assists each and NHL goals-against average and save percentage leader Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves to improve to 7-0-2 in his past nine.
It was the Wild's fifth consecutive win overall and at home, and they improved to a conference-best 9-3-1 against the East. Compare that to last season's 13-16-3 record against the East, and it's easy to see why the Wild continue to climb up the standings.
Maybe one reason the Wild didn't take its first off the gas was because it played with a little attitude. Panthers defenseman Dylan McIlrath got into two fights, one with Kurtis Gabriel, the other with Chris Stewart. That didn't go well for him; Stewart opened him up like a can of tomato sauce.
The Wild and their fans also were aggravated with the officiating. Not only were there some blatant non-calls, the Wild didn't get their first power play until 8:33 left in a 5-0 game. By that point, the Wild killed five power plays.
It was another unsuccessful start at Xcel Energy Center for Roberto Luongo. Starting with a 0-0 tie in 2000, Luongo fell to 3-12-3 all-time in St. Paul and his winless streak here stretched to 0-6-1. He gave up five goals on 17 shots to be pulled for the fourth time in those seven starts.
The first period was painstakingly long.
There were 26 faceoffs, including several re-drops by linesmen Greg Devorski and Mark Wheler, who also were booting centermen left and right. There were also 11 minutes in Wild penalties, including three minors and Gabriel's fourth fight in six games.
But 43 seconds after the Wild killed off a Gabriel minor, Parise scored his fifth goal of the season.
Jonas Brodin hit Pominville at the blue line, and Pominville hit Parise entering the Florida zone with speed. Parise wristed a shot from inside the left circle under Luongo's glove for his first goal since Nov. 25.
The Wild had to kill off another penalty to start the second, but 1:13 later, Haula buried Nino Niederreiter's rebound for the former Gopher's fifth goal. Charlie Coyle set the whole play up, and even appeared to leap over Haula's oncoming shot that sailed into the net.
Haula's former Gophers teammate thought he scored his third career goal later in the period, but for the third time this season, the Wild was successful challenging an offside. Replays showed Derek MacKenzie beat the puck into the zone and Rau's goal was erased.
That proved big because right after, Pominville hit Staal for a breakaway. Luongo denied the initial shot, but Staal batted the rebound out of mid-air for his seventh goal of the season.
It was an unfortunate homecoming for Nick Bjugstad and Rau, the back-to-back Minnesota Mr. Hockey winners in 2010 and 2011. Bjugstad has no points in 11 games this season and didn't pick up his old roommate, Haula, on the backcheck before he made it 2-0.
It was Bjugstad's fourth career game in Minnesota, and his mom, Janeen, bought a "boatload" of tickets from the Wild to give to family and friends.
"I don't have near the amount of people coming that Nick does. I have like 25," Rau said before the game.
