Bo Groulx scored a pair of goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on for a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening in Saint Paul, Minn.
Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies scored one goal apiece for Toronto, which improved to 2-0-1 in its past three games after going eight games in a row without a victory.
Vladimir Tarasenko scored both goals for Minnesota, which lost for the second time in as many nights. The Wild dropped to 1-2-2 in their past five contests.
Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz stopped 36 of 38 shots to earn the victory.
Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt gave up three goals on 25 shots.
Toronto opened the scoring 1:07 into the second period when Rielly scored on a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 only 72 seconds later. Groulx redirected a Troy Stecher shot from the point into the back of the net.
Groulx notched his second goal of the game with 11:42 remaining in the second period. Wallstedt was screened by a couple Wild defenders in front of the crease, and Groulx ripped a wrist shot through traffic from just inside of the left circle.
The performance by Groulx matched his career total in goals entering the evening. He started the game with two goals in 68 games with the Anaheim Ducks and Toronto.
The Wild got on the scoreboard with 15:09 to go in the third period when Tarasenko got free to the left side of the crease, took a pass from Mats Zuccarello and punched in a shot.
Tarasenko struck again 23 seconds later. He carried the puck to the middle of the left circle and fired a pinpoint shot for his second goal of the game and 18th of the season, with Zuccarello recording a secondary assist for his second of the game.
Minnesota pulled Wallstedt for an extra skater in the final minutes, but Stolarz and the Maple Leafs withstood the comeback attempt. Knies sealed the outcome when he scored an empty-net goal with 37 seconds to go.
-Field Level Media
