Wild picks up much-needed victory, 5-2 over New York Rangers

The moment of truth for the Wild arrived almost halfway through the game after the team gave up a shorthanded goal, a bad break that could have set the stage for another collapse.

After all, that's precisely what unraveled the Wild last game when a coach's challenge didn't work out in its favor and a carom off a linesmen felled the group in the loss before that.

But this time was different.

"Nobody was down," Kevin Fiala said. "Everybody was still up, and we had played a great game so far."

Instead of repeating history, the Wild went with the alternative and racked up three consecutive goals to outscore the usually stingy Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday in front of 18,356 at Xcel Energy Center and pick up only its second victory in the past eight games.

"There's no other way but to answer back," Marcus Foligno said. "You can't sulk in it. You've got to go after it."

Fiala had two of those clap-back tallies, including the clincher, and Foligno the other as part of a three-point effort that tied his career high.

The first by Fiala came only 1 minute, 6 seconds after Mika Zibanejad capitalized shorthanded at 8:07 of the second period when he chased down Mats Zuccarello and appeared to hook Zuccarello to the ice to skate in alone on goalie Cam Talbot.

"I think it's a penalty," coach Dean Evason said. "But we didn't lose our composure so that was a positive."

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. Foligno also picked up an assist on what was the game's only power play.

"From there on, we went flying," Fiala said.

BOXSCORE: Wild 5, N.Y Rangers 2

At 13:06, Foligno polished off a set play when he split the Rangers defense with a Matt Dumba stretch pass and slid the puck by New York goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Not only was that Foligno's 19th goal, but it also lifted him past 30 points for the first time in his NHL career.

"It was a big goal for us," Foligno said.

Fiala also had a memorable night, notching his third multi-goal game of the season when he converted on a rising backhander off the rush with 2:16 to go in the second for his seventh point during a four-game point streak.

That bumped Fiala up to 20 goals, the third consecutive 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).

Georgiev finished with 23 saves, and so did Talbot for his second consecutive victory.

"In the third period, we did a great job to not give them any life," Fiala said. "We kept on rolling, playing great. I'm just very proud of [the] group."

That solid ending mimicked the Wild's attentive start.

A shot by Ryan Hartman that skipped by Georgiev established an early Wild lead 10:38 into the first period, giving Hartman four goals in the past four games and 23 overall. Kirill Kaprizov's assist 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 Joel 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.

Jordan Greenway also factored into the play, with the assist counting as his 100th career point in his first game since sitting out six with an upper-body injury. He returned alongside Eriksson Ek and Foligno, and the Wild improved to 15-6-2 when that line plays.

But the most impressive stretch by the Wild came after the Rangers erased their deficit, a comeback that began with a 2-on-1 goal by Dryden Hunt 5:03 into the second period before Zibanejad's equalizer.

And that's what made the performance a potential building block and not just a sigh of relief like the team's other recent win when it squeaked by the Flyers 5-4 last Thursday.

"We gotta play the exact same way now consistently," Evason said, "and just have that same effort."