The Wild used to stumble in pressure-packed situations.
Now they soar.
After surrendering the tying goal on the power play, the Wild scored three times in a span of 2 minutes, 7 seconds during the third period to overwhelm the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center and rekindle the momentum they had before taking a three-day break for the holidays.
Their four-game win streak is tied for the longest of the season, they've won seven in a row on home ice, and the Wild are 11-3 in the 14 games they've played since John Hynes took over behind the bench.
Before this rout, the Wild's past five victories were by a single goal and four finished in overtime or a shootout.
"We got some confidence back in the group," winger Marcus Johansson said, "and we know that we can score goals to win games."
That they got to show off their evolution against Detroit was a full-circle moment.
After all, a 4-1 mismatch against the Red Wings on Nov. 26 was the line in the sand that preceded this turnaround, the Wild firing Dean Evason a day later after the team dropped a seventh consecutive game.
"Things have changed," defenseman Jake Middleton said, "and it's just been a lot of fun since that last Detroit game."
Case in point: The Wild and Red Wings were tied in that initial meeting before Detroit ran away, beginning with a late goal in the second period before tacking on two more in the third.
In the rematch, the Red Wings' Alex DeBrincat scored the equalizer on the power play 2:43 into the third period, but that goal didn't have a chance to galvanize Detroit. That's because only 1:52 later, winger Ryan Hartman polished off a rush out of Wild territory for his third goal in as many games after sitting out two in a row because of an upper-body injury that he initially tried to play through.
Then 52 seconds after that, winger Marcus Foligno pounced on a loose puck in front for two goals in two games. Another 1:15 later, Johansson doubled his goal output on the season (four) with his second tally and third point of the night. His line with Hartman and Marco Rossi combined for five points.
"Hartzy, who played great tonight, really provided that little punch that we needed to get going again," Foligno said. "He seemed to be everywhere tonight, and it was a good game by him and Johansson. That line helped us get our rhythm back, and then you get up to 5-2 — yeah, it's the blink of an eye. A lot of good plays to get us there.
"Nice to see, and nice to see that we can break away from a team like that."
Detroit responded at 8:00 on a rising shot by Daniel Sprong, but a Kirill Kaprizov deflection with 5:45 to go stretched Kaprizov's goal streak to four games and doused any chance at a comeback for the Red Wings.
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson totaled 25 saves in his eighth victory over his past 10 starts.
"You got to find ways to win games," Hynes said, "and I thought the response after they tied the game 2-2 was really good."
Only 38 seconds after the opening faceoff, Matt Boldy redirected in a Kaprizov centering pass for his 10th goal of the season and ninth in his past 14 games; Kaprizov has nine points during a five-game point streak.
Before the first period adjourned, Detroit retaliated when Patrick Kane wired in a wrist shot after getting behind the Wild defense at 6:32. But the Wild had the edge in the second: Johansson sent a Hartman rebound by goalie James Reimer (25 saves) at 1:37, and the Wild were airtight at the other end while denying Detroit during its first of two power plays. The Wild's power play went 0-for-2.
"The second period was us," Foligno said.
That period teed up their takeover in the third, a performance the Wild weren't delivering when the losses were piling up.
A month later, winning has become contagious.
"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Hartman recalled. "Kept finding ourselves behind in games. But we made some changes. We've regrouped. It shows a lot of character in our group and how we were able to be resilient."
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Wild show how far they've come, overwhelm Red Wings 6-3 for fourth straight win - Star Tribune
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