WOLVES DROP HOMERS IN POSSIBLE PLAYOFF MATCH-UP

Savard's 3 helpers lead Wolves to win in New England

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Springfield, Mass.- On the eve of two of their biggest games this season, the Timberwolves double up 15th-ranked Homers and win 4-2 in Springfield.
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"We're taking things game-by-game, but are fully aware of the steep rise in competition this week," said Timberwolves captain, Keith Ballard. "But we cannot let our focus deter too much from the immediate task at hand. And that's here in Springfield."
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Despite both clubs gaining a power play chance each in the opening period, the first 20 minutes went in the books 0-0 and the Timberwolves taking 12 shots on Cam Ward to the Homers 10 on Henrik Lundqvist.
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Rick Nash opened the games scoring at 9:00 in the 2nd period for his 21st goal from Mark Streit and Marc Savard [pictured].
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Mike Fisher put the Timberwolves up 2-0 90 seconds later for his 29th from TJ Oshie and Streit. David Krejci would draw the Homers within 1 at 13:45 and closed out the 2nd period scoring with Thunder Bay holding onto a 2-1 lead.
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In the final 20 minutes, Marian Gaborik scored his team-leading 46th goal at 7:51 from Brooks Orpik and Savard. Inching closer to hitting that 50 goal mark like he did last season.
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The closest the game got was at 9:31 in the 3rd when Viktor Stalberg made it 3-2. But a blast from the point at 11:12 from Anton Volchenkov iced the game and led the Timberwolves to a 4-2 victory.
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As mentioned, the 3rd-ranked Timberwolves will face their biggest test with 12 games remaining in the regular season. They travel to Dayton on Tuesday to take on the 2nd-ranked Musicmen, and then head home on Thursday to battle the #1 Copenhagen Crusaders.
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"It's big," said a matter of fact Timberwolves coach, Craig Hartsburg. "We'll know where we really stand in the order of things after this week. It's more than just hanging with these guys. We want to overcome them and beat them. The overall goal there is simple. But we've got to match up with them and clean some things up in our own game first."
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>>>3-STARS
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>>>*Marc Savard [THU] - 3 assists
>>**Anton Volchenkov [THU] - 1 goal, 2 blocked shots and 2 hits
>***Mark Streit [THU] - 2 assists