A night after the Minnesota Wild lost to the Rangers in Manhattan, they defeated the New Jersey Devils by the same score, 3-2, in Newark.
Ryan Suter scored the game-winner early in the third period for Minnesota.
Kaapo Kahkonen got the start for the Wild in his NHL debut and made 32 saves for the win.
“I felt pretty normal all day,” the 23-year-old said. “I almost had to try to not get too excited and calm myself down even though it is the NHL. It’s still hockey, still one of the games you play over the course of the season, so you have to approach it the same way.”
The Wild are 4-0-3 in their seven.
“Obviously it’s just one game, but I feel the game was pretty simple, we did the right plays and put the puck deep and defended the middle,” Kahkonen said. “They got their chances from the outside, but we did a very good job and that made my job a lot easier.”
Jesper Boqvist and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Devils.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Palmieri said. “I think we knew they were going to defend well. They have a guy playing his first NHL game, so obviously they were trying to battle for him. They blocked a lot of shots at the end in the third.”
Zach Parise and Jordan Greenway also scored for the Wild.
“Just with the way the two prior games ended, to be on the other side and be able to lock one down was nice for us,” Parise said. “We got four out of six points on this (three-game) road trip, so that’s not a bad thing.”
[WATCH: All Wild vs. Devils highlights]
Louis Domingue made 26 saves in the loss.
“I just thought our execution, particularly early in the game, was not close to where it needed to be,” Devils head coach John Hynes said. “It’s a riddle we’ve got to solve.”
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