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NHL: Minnesota 2, San Jose 0

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 23 (UPI) -- Niklas Backstrom made 33 saves en route to his first shutout of the season Saturday and Minnesota blanked San Jose 2-0 for a fifth straight win.

Backstrom was especially busy in the third period, turning aside all 19 shots he saw in holding off the Sharks for his 27th career whitewash.

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Zach Parise and Jared Spurgeon each found the net with Mikko Koivu and Ryan Suter providing assists on both scores for the Northwest Division-leading Wild, who improved to 11-4-1 at home.

Antti Niemi stopped 22-of-24 shots for San Jose, which fell to 1-3-0 on a five-game road trip.

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