Wild defeat Devils in shootout, end 3-game skid

ST. PAUL, Minn. --Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves, and the Minnesota Wild ended a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout win against the New Jersey Devils at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

"I've been on losing streaks before with previous teams, and the best way to do it was just try not to feel the pressure," Gustavsson said. "Pressure is good in a way when you can deal with it. It makes you perform even better. And I think we showed up today and, again, like we created our own confidence."

Joel Eriksson Ek scored his 20th goal of the season for Minnesota (28-20-4). Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau scored in the shootout, and Gustavsson stopped both of the attempts he faced.
Tomas Tatar scored twice for New Jersey (34-13-5), which had won three straight. Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves and had his 10-game winning streak end.
"They were desperate for points, they're hunting for the playoffs, and we're aware of it, so we just have to have a better start than we did," Tatar said. "The point is huge. You're coming down on a season and in important moments like this, every point is big, and we know it. Unfortunately, too bad we couldn't grab two, but one, we'll take it. We want to learn what we did wrong and be better next game."

Eriksson Ek made it 1-0 at 5:52 of the first period, redirecting Calen Addison's point shot on a power play.
Tatar tied it 1-1 at 2:45 of the second period. After whiffing on a shot, he passed down to Ondrej Palat, who sent the puck back to Tatar for a one-timer from the top of the left circle.
Tatar then gave the Devils a 2-1 lead at 6:04, tipping in Damon Severson's shot, which initially also hit off Sam Steel's stick.
"We need different personnel to score," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "On a night like tonight, you got to find ways to put the puck in the back of the net.
"But Tatar's game, he was in on some quality opportunities and took advantage of a couple nice plays and was around the front of the net."

Ryan Hartman tied it 2-2 at 5:25 of the third period when Matt Dumba's one-timer from the point hit off him in front and deflected in.
"Once you get to overtime, it's like, OK we've worked, we did a lot of really good things," Wild coach Dean Evason said. "We worked hard. Clearly you want the extra point, but the way we played that 60 minutes, it was pretty positive. But to get that extra point and get that extra reinforcement was important for us."
NOTES: Tatar's last two-goal game came on April 12, 2021, when he was a member of the Montreal Canadians. … Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton had the secondary assist on Tatar's first goal. He has 37 assists this season, tying his NHL career high he set with the Calgary Flames in 2016-17. Hamilton also has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak. … Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin had an assist in 25:46 of ice time in his return after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov had his eight-game point streak end.