NASHVILLE – Proving the age-old sports — and especially hockey — cliché true, the Mikko Koivu line has proved almost nightly during the Wild's record 10-game winning streak that the best defense is a good offense.
With the Jason Zucker-Koivu-Mikael Granlund trio, their sweltering production of late starts with their play away from the puck.
Koivu, the 12th-year veteran and eighth-year captain who has had a Selke Trophy-worthy first 33 games, is being complemented by two fast, tenacious, smart wingers, coach Bruce Boudreau says, which explains why the coach trusts playing them in all situations, against opposing teams' top guns and why they're spending a lot of time in the offensive zone lately.
The group, which Boudreau says embraces the challenge of being a shutdown line, has become prolific since a patient Zucker, who started the season on the fourth line, was elevated.
"After a long sort of experiment, Zuck has come in and fit in like a glove there. He gives you that element now, he's scoring and he's skating and he's defending, something that people have told me before he's not really good at before this season," Boudreau said. "But I think he's done a tremendous job. When he moves his legs, he's a very good player, and he's very smart.
"And Mikko's done the same thing for the last 10 years. He's so responsible out there, it's really nice to have him out there."
A look at the stats for each member of the line shows how well they're playing:
• Zucker has scored six goals and nine assists in the past 15 games, and he leads all NHL forwards with a plus-22. He has had two negative rating games all season, and his 14 assists already are a single-season career high.