ST. PAUL, Minn. _ The Wild continue to debunk trends Bruce Boudreau has been worried about.
You know how winning streaks are often followed by losing streaks? Not for the Wild.
You know how the first game after a long road trip can often be perilous for the home team? Not for the Wild, who has proven that one to be a fallacy all season.
Nope, Thursday night, in a brief return to Xcel Energy Center before hitting the road again for two more games, the Wild crushed the Montreal Canadiens, 7-1.
Devan Dubnyk lost his shutout bid with 8.5 seconds left.
Taking advantage of a banged up team playing for the second time in 24 hours, the Wild beat the Canadiens and superstar goalie Carey Price for the second time in three weeks thanks to three-goal second and third periods.
The Wild's 3-0-1 since having their 12-game winning streak busted New Year's Eve by the Columbus Blue Jackets. While improving to 14-4 at home, the Wild picked up points for the 21st time in 23 games (17-2-4) and moved within two points of Central Division-leading Chicago with four games in hand.
The Wild leads the Western Conference with a .713 points percentage heading into weekend road games at Dallas and Chicago. The Wild carried a 10-game road point streak into Saturday's game against the Stars.
Minnesota, the highest scoring and best defensive team in the conference, got points from 14 players. Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and Christian Folin, Eric Staal, Jordan Schroeder, Jason Zucker and Ryan Suter each scored.
It was the 16th time in 40 games the Wild scored at least four goals, something that occurred 20 times in 82 games last season.
Dubnyk made 20 saves to improve to 15-1-2 in his past 18 starts. It was the fifth time in Price's history that he gave up seven goals, and it came on 24 shots.
Defensemen Matt Dumba had a career-high three assists and Jared Spurgeon two. Staal, the Wild's leading scorer with 38 points in 40 games, had his second three-point game in the past four to give him 20 points in his past 14. He has at least a point in 13 of the past 14 games and helped get Thursday's game headed the right direction.
On an outstanding shift from Minnesota's top line, Folin scored off a pretty give and go with Staal. The play started earlier in the shift when Jonas Brodin hammered a puck on net with Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle at the goalmouth.
After Coyle's backhander hit a defender, the Wild regrouped and Brodin fed his defense partner. Folin sent the puck down the wall for Staal, then drove the slot, took Staal's pass, whiffed on his initial shot and followed up by backhanding a beauty just inside the post for his first goal of the season and third goal in 96 career games.
The Canadiens were the better team for most the period, but the Wild erupted in the third.
It started after a puck retrieval by Dumba, who quickly struck Coyle with a quick transition. Instead of dumping the puck, Coyle hit Staal coming over the blue line. Staal took two explosive strides and beat Price with a perfect shot high blocker.
The Wild have been as quick strike team all season. For the ninth time, they scored within a minute of each other by turning the 2-0 lead into a 3-0 lead 39 seconds later.
Schroeder, whose gritty play in the corner allowed the Wild to retain possession, redirected Spurgeon's shot after being cross-checked to the ice by Zach Redmond.
The Wild stretched it to four late in the period when Mikko Koivu fed Niederreiter in front. In the third, the onslaught continued when Zucker and Suter scored power-play goals, Zucker off a nice Spurgeon setup and Suter off a one-timer of Dumba's perfect feed.
