Spurgeon scores twice to help Wild rally past Blackhawks

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jared Spurgeon scored twice, and the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

Spurgeon, who turned 35 on Friday, scored his first two goals of the season, including the game-winner.

"Yeah, big win for us there," Spurgeon said. "We didn't play very well at the start. The first period was pretty sloppy but to be able to come through the second there and get the crowd into it and get going was big for us."

Marco Rossi scored, and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists for Minnesota (15-4-4) which has won four of its past six games (4-1-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.

"Yeah, I thought it was a little bit sleepy in the first," Wild coach John Hynes said. "Just our speed and our minds, we didn't play the way we wanted to play. But I thought (in) the second, we got to that game. We addressed some things. The guys did a good job. We got better and better as the game went on. That's what you need to do."

Ryan Donato scored twice for Chicago (8-13-2), which has lost five of seven (2-4-1). Petr Mrazek made 26 saves.

"I heard them talking between the second period, and they're frustrated that we let the other team come back and take over the game," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "I thought we pushed pretty good in the third, had some good scoring chances even with the goaltender [pulled]. But we got to do a better job when we get up 2-0.

"We're past the first 10 games, the first 20 games. We got to make sure we're getting into a mode where we can hold that and sustain it and play the way we played to get to that point and even better."

Donato made it 1-0 at 2:23 of the first period, scoring off a loose puck in the slot. He then increased the lead to 2-0 at 5:43 of the seconde period with a power-play goal from the top of the left circle that redirected in off Wild defenseman Brock Faber's stick.

However, Minnesota responded with two goals in 17 seconds to tie the game 2-2.

"Obviously, it's infuriating and it's hard to lose games and have it be that way especially when you get off to a good start," Donato said. "Control what we can control and hopefully we can learn from it."

Rossi converted a pass from Marcus Johansson following a 3-on-2 rush to make it 2-1 at 10:22.

"It was a great pass in to me," Rossi said. "We needed something for the momentum change and like I said, it wasn't our best game, but once we got the first goal, we're getting looser and we're playing our game more. And then we just [tried] to keep playing smart."

Spurgeon tied it 2-2 at 10:39, scoring on a rebound glove side. It was his first goal since April 8, 2023.

Spurgeon scored his second of the game from the top of the slot at 17:33 to put the Wild in front 3-2.

"I think we just simplified the game," Spurgeon said. "We were trying to do too much and maybe a bit too fancy, just more straight lines and simple hockey that works for us. I think around the 10-minute mark, you could see us sort of get back to that and that's when we got our chances."

NOTES: Fleury, who turned 40 on Thursday, became the second goalie in NHL history to win a game as a teenager and as a 40-year-old, joining Martin Brodeur. … With an assist on Donato's second goal, Chicago forward Connor Bedard (78 points; 26 goals, 52 assists) passed Bobby Hull (77 points) for the third-most points by a Blackhawks teenager, trailing only Eddie Olczyk (129) and Patrick Kane (94). … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had an assist in his 300th NHL game. He has 366 points in that span. … Minnesota forward Marat Khusnutdinov had two shots on goal in 9:04 of ice time after missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury.