ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild have had most of their success away from Xcel Energy Center and maybe wearing their road uniforms at home brought that mojo to St. Paul.
After rediscovering the low-scoring style they want to play, the Wild snapped their three-game losing streak after rallying for a 2-1 victory against the Hurricanes in front of 18,278 on Saturday.
This also ended a three-game slide at home, improving the Wild to 3-5-1.
Alex Goligoski capped off the comeback 1 minute, 12 seconds into the overtime after Sam Steel capitalized during a promotion to the top line by spoiling Pyotr Kochetkov's shutout bid with 2:37 to go in the third period.
Steel also assisted on the goal by Goligoski, who was skating in a rare game and was honored before puck drop for playing in 1,000 games earlier this season.
The Hurricanes were the latest tough competitor to drop by St. Paul, following the likes of the Rangers, reigning Stanley Cup champion Avalanche and the Penguins.
Pittsburgh dumped the Wild 6-4 on Thursday, and that was the first game in six the Wild surrendered more than two regulation goals. But they reset defensively vs. Carolina, limiting the opposition to a goal or less for the fourth time in seven games.
During a 2-on-1 rush, Sebastian Aho buried a pass from linemate Martin Necas into the back of the net with a one-timer at 13 minutes, 47 seconds of the first period.
In 11 career games vs. the Wild, Aho has six goals and 15 points. He also rang a puck off the post not long after scoring.
Filip Gustavsson, who continues to fill in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, finished with 20 saves while rebounding from that loss to the Penguins. He's 2-4-1 in his first Wild season between the pipes. Kochetkov had 19 saves.
But as has been the trend this season, just as one part of the team's play improves, another goes south.
Case in point: the offense.
After registering a whopping four goals against Pittsburgh, just the second time in seven games they scored more than twice, the Wild weren't as effective on Saturday.
In fairness, Carolina is among the stingiest in the NHL and Kochetkov had given up just eight goals in his five other NHL appearances. But the Wild, who were relying on one less forward with seven defensemen in the lineup, struggled to apply consistent pressure against the Hurricanes.
Carolina already had seven shots by the time the Wild registered their first 12:04 into the first.
When they received their first power play in the second period, the Wild put only one shot on net and a smattering of boos broke out; this extended the power play's slump to 0 for 14, while the penalty kill stopped the two power plays it faced.
The Hurricanes were in black jerseys because they'll need them on Monday when they're in Winnipeg, with the Jets set to don their white retro uniforms. Carolina could travel with just those jerseys because the Wild agreed to suit up in their road look, which they've worn while going 5-3-1 as the visitor this season.
And the sweater on Xcel Energy Center ice sparked a similar result, with five games to go on this seven-game homestand. The next test is Wednesday vs. the Jets.
