Game Recap: Ducks 3, Wild 2

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Troy Terry scored twice for the Anaheim Ducks, who rallied past the Minnesota Wild for a 3-2 win at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Terry scored the go-ahead goal at 11:40 of the third period after exiting the penalty box for a partial breakaway. Ryan Hartman blocked Terry’s initial shot, but the puck went right back to Terry, who scored from the slot.

“I just came out of the box and saw that we had a turnover and it worked out,” Terry said. “Our guys were great on the kill all night, and I put them on the kill twice. I went from trying not to be the bad guy to getting that chance and scoring. So I just tried to shoot the puck to the guy and it hit his foot, and then I kind of got lucky the puck came back to me and I just tried to take a step and go up.”

Ryan Strome scored, and Adam Henrique had two assists for Anaheim (17-30-2), which is 2-0-1 in its past three games. Lukas Dostal made 35 saves.

“I think the guys did a great job boxing out. They made my life a little bit easier,” Dostal said. “Minnesota, they have some of the big bodies, so they got in front of the net quite a lot, I think that’s their system. But the guys have been blocking a lot of shots and stuff. So it was a great game by our team.”

Kirill Kaprizov and Jon Merrill scored, and Mats Zuccarello had two assists for Minnesota (21-23-5), which allowed three third-period goals in a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves.

“You have to play the game you’re in,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I thought we had opportunities to get it and didn’t get it. When you’re in a 2-1 game, that’s where your details matter. You gotta be able to win games 2-1 too. But certainly would we like to get the third goal and extend the lead, for sure. We were working towards that, but when it doesn’t happen and then you’re in critical areas where you’re called up on to defend the right way and we don’t, that’s the lesson out of the last two games.”

Strome tipped in a Radko Gudas shot through traffic at 6:45 of the third period to tie the game 2-2.

Kaprizov made it 1-0 at 6:39 of the first period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Zuccarello.

Terry tied it 1-1 at 8:17 after Frank Vatrano forced a defensive zone turnover and found Terry open in the slot to beat Gustavsson short side.

Merrill put Minnesota ahead 2-1 at 18:37, tipping in Zuccarello's shot from the blue line shot that deflected off Gudas’ stick.

“That’s hockey for you,” Zuccarello said. “I feel like we created enough. There were some breakdowns, and they scored on their chances. ‘Gus’ was good, too. They had two or three breakaways, as well. We were sloppy. At the end of the day, I think it’s one of those games where they score and we don’t, and we should probably score a couple more.”

Marcus Johansson appeared to make it 3-1 Wild at 6:02 of the second period, but Anaheim challenged for offside, and a video review determined Matt Boldy preceded the puck into the offensive zone.

“That was big,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “Brett Ferguson is our video guy and he called it right away. We couldn’t get a good angle from the bench, there were a number of different angles, but he was really confident the angle he had showed it.

“[Minnesota] came out like a lightning bolt and they dominated the second period, they just won face-offs, won 1-on-1 battles, won edge battles outraced us to the puck. …The message to our team was it’s going to be a long night if we don’t pick it up and match their speed and their battle level. I thought we did, and it turned into more of an even [third] period.”

NOTES: Anaheim’s eight third-period comeback wins this season are tied for the NHL lead with the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings. … Wild forward Marcus Foligno was a late scratch with an illness. … Minnesota forward Pat Maroon left during the second period with an undisclosed injury. No update was provided postgame. … Kaprizov has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past seven games. … Henrique has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak.