GLENDALE, ARIZ. – The turnaround from a magical show in Las Vegas to the next performance in Arizona was quick, less than 24 hours.
But in that brief amount of time, the Wild's five-star effort in trapezing around one of the NHL's juggernauts in the Golden Knights turned into a disappearing act against the league's last-place team.
"It was definitely night and day from the very emotional game last night we had against Vegas," winger Nino Niederreiter said.
And yet the team still managed to escape with two more points via a 3-1 win over the Coyotes Saturday in front of 13,735 at Gila River Arena courtesy the supporting role of the fourth line.
"You have to grind, and we did that," winger Marcus Foligno said.
Tied at 1 in the third period, Foligno gobbled up a pass from winger Daniel Winnik and unleashed a shot on goalie Antti Raanta that flew in at 10 minutes, 51 seconds to finalize the team's first win against the Coyotes in three tries (1-1-1).
"We knew on the back-to-back like this, especially against a team that has nothing to really lose, these can get away from you," Foligno said. "So as a fourth line, you need to come up big in these. We knew our first three lines yesterday had a heavy load against Vegas, so it was huge to breakthrough and get the game winner."
The triumph also clinched goalie Devan Dubnyk's 200th career win against the team that gave him a chance to settle in as a No.1 with the Wild, as Dubnyk was traded to the Wild in 2015 from the Coyotes after revitalizing his career with Arizona.