Watching video of his team's last game against Anaheim, Minnesota coach Todd Richards saw more examples that the Wild aren't the same team.
It showed on Friday night.
Guillaume Latendresse scored the winning goal in the shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 victory over the Ducks.
Latendresse fired a shot through the legs of Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Wild another come-from-behind win and points in six straight games.
Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen scored two goals apiece in regulation for Minnesota, and Miettinen also scored in the shootout.
"I went back to when we played them out in Anaheim … I watched it and I was like 'this is very scrambly, this isn't very good hockey here,"' Richards said of the Wild's 3-2 loss to the Ducks on Oct. 14. "We got the results that we probably deserved there for the most part. There were a few good periods that we played out West, but I think now in playing, obviously we're more systematic in our approach, in our game, and I know guys are much more confident."
Joffrey Lupul had two goals in his return to the lineup for the Ducks and then scored in the third round of the shootout. Bobby Ryan also scored twice for Anaheim but the team failed to capitalize on a power play in overtime.
"We're missing opportunities to close out a team, like we're missing a 4-on-3 in overtime," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "You can't miss those opportunities to seize the extra point. It's that simple."
The Ducks were playing without Teemu Selanne, who broke his left hand in Thursday's loss at Dallas. Selanne underwent surgery on Friday and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
The resilient Wild just keep coming back from early deficits.
Minnesota allowed the first goal for the seventh time in its last eight games. The Wild trailed 2-0 against the Ducks and twice came back from two-goal deficits.
Koivu and Miettinen each scored in the final five minutes of regulation with Miettinen's second goal of the game coming with just 1:41 remaining in the third.
A night after watching a third-period lead slip away on a pair of fluky goals, Anaheim was the opportunistic team early against the Wild, leading 2-1 after two periods despite being outshot 20-9.
But the Ducks witnessed another third-period lead fall. Miettinen scored just over a minute into the third, before Lupul and Ryan gave Anaheim a 4-2 lead.
"It's not the first one," Anaheim captain Scott Niedermayer said. "It's getting old, that's for sure. You have yourself the lead late in the third, you should be able to get the win and two points in pretty much all of those cases. Once in a while, maybe not."
Lupul had missed seven games with back spasms. The winger opened the scoring just over six minutes into the first as he fired a shot over Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom's left shoulder. Play continued as the goal was waved off, but Lupul earned credit for his seventh of the season after a review showed the shot ricochet off the back pipe and back out to the faceoff circle.
