Recap: Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota

Sports Network | November 1, 2009

Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Niklas Backstrom made 34 saves to lead Minnesota over Pittsburgh, 2-1, at Mellon Arena.

Kyle Brodziak and Eric Belanger notched first-period goals for the Wild, who have won two in a row and three of five.

"We just tried to play simple and our goaltender came up big for us," Belanger said.

Pascal Dupuis provided the sole offense for the Penguins, who had won two in a row coming in. Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss, allowing both goals on only 15 shots.

"(Backstrom) played extremely well and they played hard defensively, blocking a lot of shots," said Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma.

The Wild took a 2-1 lead after one period despite being outshot 16-4. Brodziak tallied at 12:11 and Belanger beat the first-period buzzer, with a Dupuis marker at 14:48 accounting for the Pens' tally.

Backstrom halted all 10 shots he faced in the second period and finished the contest with nine more saves over the final 20 minutes.

Minnesota has won five of the last six meetings...Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held without a point on three shots and picked up nine penalty minutes, including a second-period fighting major with Minnesota's Marek Zidlicky.