Wild's win streak ends with 2-1 overtime loss at Toronto

The Wild won't be bringing a win streak home with them, but they are rediscovering the style that works best for them.

A 2-1 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs on Friday at Scotiabank Arena ended the Wild's four-game tear, but they still banked three out of four points by splitting the two-stop trip.

Overall, the Wild are 5-1-2 in their last eight.

"We liked every part of our game here tonight except missing one point," coach Dean Evason told reporters in Toronto.

How the Wild lost: Toronto's William Nylander delivered the tiebreaker 1 minute, 5 seconds into the extra session, unleashing a stealthy shot by Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson after picking the puck off Frederick Gaudreau and skating by Matt Boldy to cap off a two-point effort.

"They do a lot of stripping from behind," Evason said. "Very skilled play by a skilled player, and then obviously a good play to beat a forward playing defense and then he makes a great move."

This was the 18th time in 25 starts Gustavsson has given up two goals or less, but his win streak ended at three games. Still, the netminder is 4-0-2 in his last six appearances, a span in which he's stopped 167 of 177 shots for a 1.60 goals-against average and .944 save percentage after this 22-save outing.

This stingy performance came against a deep Toronto squad; Maple Leafs leading scorer Mitch Marner is on the team's second line, which is centered by Ryan O'Reilly after the former Blues captain was acquired last week in a trade that the Wild helped broker by taking on some of O'Reilly's remaining contract.

But Toronto didn't have the Wild scrambling too often.

That's a credit to Gustavsson and the posture in front of him, the team deploying the aggressive, shutdown structure that was a throwback to when the Wild were cruising through December. Not only did they dish out a season-high 42 hits, but the Maple Leafs' 24 shots were their fewest in 15 games.

"Everyone did their jobs tonight," Ryan Hartman said. "Gus played great."

Turning point: After Toronto blanked on its second power play, the Wild's penalty kill improving to 24-for-24 over the past 11 games, the Wild finally received their first power play with only minutes to go in the third period.

"We just gotta keep building on the positive and keep moving forward," Gaudreau said.

The Wild rolled out the same forward lines and defensive pairings from their 2-0 shutout at Columbus on Thursday despite recalling Adam Beckman from the minors, and for the second straight game Brandon Duhaime gave the Wild a first-period lead. His bank shot at 12:10 set a new career high in goals at seven and was his third in the last four games.

Toronto responded at 16:07 when David Kampf one-timed in a behind-the-net feed from Nylander, setting up a staring contest that the Maple Leafs ultimately won. Goalie Ilya Samsonov posted 24 saves.

What it means: During this trip, the Wild leapfrogged Colorado for third in the Central Division and moved into the battle for first place.

That's right: after stumbling out of the All-Star break, the Wild's progress the last two weeks has them only two points back of No. 1 Dallas, a climb reflective of the team's back-to-basics turnaround.

"We knew what we needed to do," Hartman said. "We're a really good team, and we can play against anybody."