The Minnesota Wild were in flux as they came back to the Xcel Energy Center on Sunday evening and just as Jason Zucker called out everyone from the players to the head coach to be better, the Wild looked to turn it around in a rematch with the Montreal Canadiens.
Unlike the previous meeting last Thursday in Montreal, the Wild didn’t let a couple of rough stretches derail their gameplan and Minnesota rallied for a 4-3 victory over Montreal.
The victory was fueled in part by a strong first period where the Wild would earn three power plays and outshoot Montreal 19-7. Minnesota cashed in on one power play with Jason Zucker’s third goal of the year at 8:57 to put the Wild on the board.
Things changed early in the second period as an interference penalty on Matt Dumba put Montreal on the power play. About a minute later, Tomas Tatar scored his third goal of the season at 2:50 to tie it up and Philip Danault would give Montreal the lead with his third goal of the year at 3:06.
With the Wild down 2-1, Marcus Foligno capitalized on a rebound off Keith Kinkaid late in the second period for his first goal of the year to tie things up at 2-2.
In the final period, Montreal took back the advantage with Danault scoring his second goal of the night at 3:22, but the Wild wouldn’t let this one slip away. Brad Hunt scored a power play goal at 8:38 to tie things up and Zach Parise scored the game-winning goal at 12:54 to send the home crowd happy.
While the Wild picked up a much-needed victory at home, it will still take a lot to save the season. The Wild improved to 2-7-0 and will try to build their first winning streak of the year on Tuesday night when they host Edmonton in St. Paul.
