Matt Boldy extended his goal streak to three games, and Danila Yurov also scored for the Wild (38-17-12), who ended a five-game point streak (3-0-2) and have lost three of their past four games (1-1-2).
“I think the story of tonight’s game was, we tried to skill our way into the game and then halfway through the game we played the way that we can play and need to play, and played a harder style of game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “And I think that was the tale of the game. First half we didn’t have it. Second half we had it, but it was too late.”
Laba gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 2:41 of the first period. Gabe Perreault sent a cross-ice pass to Laba in the right face-off circle, where he put a wrist shot on net that deflected in off the left skate of Wild defenseman Nico Sturm.
Gavrikov made it 2-0 at 15:00. Fox’s wrist shot was tipped by Tye Kartye and bounced off Minnesota defenseman Quinn Hughes in front. Gavrikov then backhanded the loose puck towards the crease and Gustavsson kicked it in off his left pad.
“That was a screen in front, ‘Foxy’ tried to deliver the puck and then I was just the first in the rebound and try to shoot it. I wasn’t sure if the goalie seen that, or was just late. Kind of a broken play … but I try to just put it on the net.”
Boldy cut the deficit to 2-1 while on the power play just 35 seconds into the second period. He took a drop pass from Hughes, skated into the offensive zone and beat Shesterkin to the glove side with a wrist shot from the slot.
“I thought our first unit looked great tonight,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “Passed up a couple shots. I don’t know how many Grade As we had but I want to say we definitely should have scored more than one. That’s hockey, and he played great. They played great, and they outplayed us for the first half and we weren’t able to claw back.”
Chlemar increased the lead to 3-1 on a breakaway at 8:41 with a backhand shot that squeaked under Gustavsson’s right arm.