Wild score 4 in 3rd, pull away from Red Wings for 4th straight win

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Marcus Johansson had two goals and an assist, and the Minnesota Wild scored four goals in the third period of a 6-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday.

“We got some confidence back in the group, and we know that we can score goals to win games,” Johansson said. “I feel like the way the game was going, we were playing better and better the whole game, too. Coming out of the break, I feel like we built our game up as the game went along. Once you get one or two there, it makes it easier for us and harder for them.”

Kirill Kaprizov extended his goal streak to four games and had an assist, and Matt Boldy scored for the Wild (16-13-4), who have won four in a row and seven of their past eight (7-1-0). Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves.

Minnesota has won seven straight at home.

“It was a great start to the game, and we were certainly ready to play, and that was good to see,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Not just the first goal, but I thought we played the way we wanted to play. In the first, I thought that they made a good push, and I’d say the middle part of the game we were on our heels a little bit. And I really liked our third period.

“So, I’d say the start and the end was more of what we needed, but you got to find ways to win games, and I thought the response after they tied the game 2-2 was really good.”

Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Kane pushed his goal streak to four games for the Red Wings (16-15-4) who are 1-6-0 in their past seven games. James Reimer made 25 saves.

“You don’t want to say they’re must-win games at this point in the season,” Kane said. “But it’s a pretty important stretch if you think about what we got going from here until the All-Star break or bye week or whatever you want to call it. That will be a big stress for us where we’re going to have to put together a good record over that stretch.”

Boldy gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 38 seconds of the first period, finishing a 2-on-1 with Kaprizov.

Kane tied it 1-1 at 6:32, picking off a Zach Bogosian pass off the boards and scoring on a breakaway. Kane has nine points (five goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak.

Johansson put Minnesota back ahead 2-1 at 1:37 of the second period, scoring on the rebound of Ryan Hartman's shot in the slot.

DeBrincat tied it 2-2 at 2:43 of the third period with a one-timer on the power play.

Hartman gave the Wild a 3-2 lead at 4:35 with a snap shot five-hole on Reimer, and Marcus Foligno extended it to 4-2 after tipping in Jake Middleton's shot 52 seconds later.

“You’d like to have a little more of a lead going into the third,” Foligno said. “But they scored a good power-play goal and then ‘Hartzy,’ who played great tonight, really provided that little punch that we needed to get going again. He seemed to be everywhere tonight, and it was a good game by him and Johansson.

“That line helped us get our rhythm back, and then you get up to 5-2. Yeah, it’s the blink of an eye. A lot of good plays to get us there.”

Johansson pushed it to 5-2 at 6:42, but Daniel Sprong cut it to 5-3 at 8:00 with a wrist shot top shelf.

“We gave ourselves a chance making it 2-2 on the power play, and then obviously them getting three quick ones kind of puts us out of the game,” Kane said.

Kaprizov tipped in a shot from Dakota Mermis at 14:15 for the 6-3 final.

“Sometimes you go through these stretches, and you can’t pinpoint this or there’s things you can’t control, and this is easily controllable,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “I think the guys see it, now it’s a matter having some discipline to execute it. … We got to manage our games much better.”

NOTES: Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, recorded his first NHL assist. …Hartman had a goal and was plus-3 in 13:03 of ice time in his return after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury.