Make it three straight convincing wins for the Minnesota Wild since Dean Evason was fired on Monday and replaced with new head coach John Hynes. On Sunday, the Wild stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and held on for a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in St. Paul.
Marco Rossi scored twice, Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists, Brock Faber had two assists and Matt Boldy scored for the second time in three games under Hynes.
Rossi got the party started with goal just over two minutes into the first period and then he struck again on the power play with 9:52 to play in the opening 20 minutes.
Up 2-0, Zuccarello scored with 2:53 left in the first period on a feed from Kirill Kaprizov. Zuccarello now has 26 points (6 goals and 20 assist) in 22 games, putting him on pace for a 97-point season. That would blow away his career best 79 points with the Wild in 2021-22.
Boldy’s goal midway through the third period was also on a Wild power play.
The Blackhawks didn’t score until Taylor Raddysh scored on a power play with under 7 minutes left in the third period.
Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win in goal, stopped 27 of 28 shots, including nine saves when Chicago was on the power play.
Minnesota was 5-10-4 under Evason. At 3-0 under Hynes, they’re 8-10-4 overall and up to 20 points. They’re still second to last in the Central Division but they’re only five points out of a wild-card spot.
Up next: Wild at Calgary, Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT.
