Wild win in shootout

ST. PAUL - Center Mikko Koivu and right winger Jason Pominville scored in a shootout and center Kyle Brodziak added two goals in the third period as the Minnesota Wild stayed unbeaten at home with a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves in the first 65 minutes, and stopped two of the three Sharks in the shootout. Koivu also scored in regulation for the Wild (6-3-0) who overcame a 3-1 third period deficit for the second consecutive game to win.
Rookie defenseman Mirco Mueller along with centers Tommy Wingels and Joe Thornton scored for the Sharks (6-4-2), who saw their third period lead slip away despite a career-high 43 saves by goalie Antti Niemi.
The Sharks appeared to get a goal from defenseman Brent Burns in overtime, but officials ruled the play dead for making contact with the goalie. The Wild were again unable to score with the man-advantage, falling to a league-worst 0-for-27 on the power play this season.
Niemi was busy right away, as Minnesota rattled off five of the game’s first six shots, and he turned aside a breakaway by Wild center Kyle Broziak in the opening minutes. The Sharks appeared to take an early lead when defenseman Jason Demers got a short-range shot past a diving Kuemper. But referee Brad Meier emphatically signaled no goal, noting that center Logan Couture had skated through the crease prior to the shot.
Keumper equaled his San Jose counterpart midway through the first period, stopping Sharks center Patrick Marleau on a short-handed breakaway with a blocker save. Mueller broke the deadlock late in the first, getting his first career goal off an odd bounce. Wild left winger Zach Parise attempted to swat away Mueller’s pass from the corner across the top of the crease, but the Minnesota alternate captain inadvertently re-directed the puck between Kuemper’s skates, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Wingels doubled the San Jose lead in the opening minutes of the middle period, scoring on a power play by slipping a shot between Keumper and the goalpost.
Koivu finally got Minnesota on the scoreboard near the midway point of the second, taking a Parise feed from the corner and crashing the net, slipping the puck past Niemi before he barreled over the goalie’s out-stretched right leg pad.
NOTES: Wild C Erik Haula missed his second consecutive game after a hard hit to the head during Monday night’s game in New York against the Rangers. The hit resulted in Rangers D John Moore receiving a five-game suspension handed down by the NHL on Wednesday. ... Sharks RW Barclay Goodrow made his NHL debut on Thursday in the same building where he suffered one of his biggest disappointments. In 2011 when Minnesota hosted the NHL Draft, Goodrow was in attendance and went unclaimed, eventually signing a free agent contract with San Jose. ... Wild LW Stephane Veilleux was recalled Thursday and played his first game of the season for the NHL club after LW Matt Cooke was scratched because of a lower body ailment. ... Both teams will open November on home ice. The Wild, in the midst of a three-game homestand, host the Dallas Stars on Saturday. The Sharks return to California for a Saturday night home meeting with the New York Islanders.