ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild finally had a break go its way, and the team took advantage.
Igor Shesterkin, one of the NHL's best goaltenders, didn't play on Tuesday, and the Wild outscored the usually stingy Rangers, 5-2, in front of 18,356 at Xcel Energy Center for just its second win in the last eight games.
Kevin Fiala had a pair of goals, Marcus Foligno racked up three points and his line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway was on the ice for two goals in their first game together in more than two weeks.
In net, Cam Talbot made 23 saves for his second consecutive victory.
Wobbly after dropping eight of its previous 10, the Wild looked to be in tough against New York and Shesterkin, who leads the league in goals-against average (1.93) and save percentage (.942).
But the Rangers called an audible, resting Shesterkin and instead starting Igor Georgiev for his first appearance since Feb. 27. And after the Wild had been undone recently by a string of unfortunate events, crumbling under the adversity, this emerged as a chance to capitalize on a favorable opportunity.
And that's exactly what happened.
A shot by Ryan Hartman that skipped by Georgiev started the upswing 10 minutes, 38 seconds into the first period for Hartman's 23rd goal of the season and fourth in the past four games. Kirill Kaprizov's setup pushed his point streak to six games, a span in which he's tallied five goals and four assists.
The Wild would exit the period ahead 2-0 after Eriksson Ek tipped in a Foligno shot with 5:19 left; at 17 goals and 12 assists, Eriksson Ek's 29 points are one shy of matching the career-high 30 Eriksson Ek registered last season.
Greenway also factored into the play, with the assist counting as his 100th career point.
This was Greenway's first game back after sitting out six with an upper-body injury. He returned alongside his longtime linemates, and the three was a force for the Wild, which improved to 15-6-2 when that line plays.
The Rangers did end up erasing their deficit in the second period.
Dryden Hunt buried a 2-on-1 pass from Ryan Strome at 5:03 and then Mika Zibanejad scored shorthanded at 8:07 after chasing down Mats Zuccarello and appearing to hook him to the ice to skate in alone on Talbot. No penalty was called on the play.
But the Wild used its remaining power play to retake the lead, with Matt Boldy scooping a puck out of traffic and passing it to a wide-open Fiala for a one-timer only 1:04 later; Foligno also picked up an assist on what was the game's only power play.
That edge only grew the rest of the way, with the Wild tacking on two more goals in the second.
At 13:06, Foligno split the Rangers defense with a Matt Dumba stretch pass and slid the puck by Georgiev on his backhand to register his 19th goal. Foligno's three points tied a career high, which he's accomplished six times including twice this season, and he reached 30 points for the first time in his NHL career.
Then, with 2:16 remaining, Fiala notched his third multi-goal game of the season when he converted on a rising backhander off the rush for his seventh point during a four-game point streak.
That bumped Fiala up to 20 goals, the third straight campaign in which he's hit that plateau; only three players have accomplished more with the Wild: Marian Gaborik (5), Zach Parise (5) and Jason Zucker (4).
Fiala's also the third Swiss-born player to tally 20-plus goals in four or more seasons, joining Timo Meier (4) and former Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (5).
Georgiev finished with 23 saves.
