In St Paul, the M\Wild ended a seven-game skid on Tuesday night in a 3-1 win over the visiting St Louis Blues.
It was the first win for new Wild coach coach John Hynes.
“When you’re away from it, you do miss it,” Hynes said. “I mean, it’s an honor to be here and, as I’ve said, to have the opportunity to get back and coach this particular group really, really excites me.
“Tonight made that excitement even more.”
Minnesota moved to 6-10-4.
Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves in the win.
Joel Eriksson Ek gave scored at 2:41 of the first period to stake the Wild to a 1-0 lead.
Colton Parayko was the lone striker for the Blues.
He scored midway through the first to tie the game, 1-1.
St Louis dropped to 11-9-1.
“They had good energy,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “That’s the only thing I talked about between periods was they got a lot of energy and we’re lacking it a little bit. We got to find some energy. New coach, they got a new lease on life over there. They played well tonight.”
The Wild killed off four power play chances for the Blues.
“I think the penalty kill had a really good night tonight,” Hynes said. “Some of it was structure. They had some good looks. I think they hit the post on one, and [Gustavsson] made some huge saves which was critical. I think when your penalty kill is effective your goaltender is your best penalty killer, but I was impressed with the attention to detail, the stick detail, the willingness to block shots. I thought we were pretty solid on clears, which is important. So, it’s the finer details of the penalty kill that were executed, and therefore we want to get in the mindset and identity of the penalty kill where it can be a lethal part of our game.”
The Wild reclaimed the lead at 18:10 off a strike by Frederick Gaudreau for a 2-1 lead headed to the middle frame.
“Yeah, I think the energy was there. I think every time you’re in a losing streak, you want to get out of it bad,” Gaudreau said. “It happens to everybody, digging in with a new staff and everything. It’s weird but it’s also exciting.”
Matt Boldy gave the Wild breathing room at 17:08 of the third for the 3-1 final.
“It’s been a long time coming, so it’s nice to kind of see one go in,” Boldy said. “I thought it had been getting better just playing with the puck, a little bit more confidence, and then today I felt good. The whole team was playing faster, hard and everything like that. Linemates (Gaudreau, Marcus Johansson) played awesome, defensemen, everyone, so they made it easy.”
Jordan Binnington made 34 saves in the loss.
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