Filip Gustavsson made 38 saves for the Minnesota Wild in a 2-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Saint Paul, Minn., on Thursday.
Yakov Trenin and newcomer Vinnie Hinostroza scored for the Wild, who snapped a two-game skid.
Sebastian Aho scored, and Frederik Andersen made 22 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost three in a row.
Trenin gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 2:55 of the first period. Marat Khusnutdinov hustled to collect Zach Bogosian’s clearing pass up the right side. He beat out Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield to retrieve it in the right face-off circle. Khusnutdinov then spun around Chatfield for a centering feed to an onrushing Trenin, who slid it under Andersen’s left pad.
The Hurricanes pushed all through the opening frame, building up an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal more than halfway through, and outshooting the Wild 15-7 after 20 minutes.
Rookie Jackson Blake had a chance to pull the Hurricanes even at 12:05 of the second period on his first career penalty shot attempt. The 21-year-old came in wide from the right side before cutting to the middle, but he lost the handle as he got to the front of the net and couldn’t slip it under Gustavsson. The goalie had to get his right pad out to keep the rolling puck from trickling past his skate.
Minnesota came out strong to start the third period and capitalized 49 seconds in to make it 2-0. Jared Spurgeon’s point shot hit the right post and then hit the back of Andersen’s left arm before landing behind the goalie. Andersen tried to lie on it but Hinostroza, who was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, got a piece of it on the doorstep to send it over the goal line.
Aho cut it to 2-1 at 17:12. Seth Jarvis sent a blind backhand pass from the goal line to the slot, and it hit Andrei Svechnikov’s stick before getting to Aho. The Finn spun around before firing it stick side.
–Field Level Media
