Marat Khusnutdinov, Jared Spurgeon and Marcus Foligno scored for the Wild (30-17-4), who are 2-2-0 in their past four games. Minnesota improved to 19-5-3 on the road, leading the NHL in road wins and matching their total number of road wins all of last season.
“We had really strong work ethic,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I thought our competitive level was high, but we played fast in the way that we skated, I think, in the way that we moved the puck. And then I thought our attention to detail tonight, all night was very good.”
William Nylander scored and Joseph Woll made 22 saves for the Maple Leafs (30-19-2), who have lost three in a row, scoring only three times during the losing streak.
“I think we can do a better job of getting on the inside but there have been opportunities there, just bearing down on it,” Toronto captain Auston Matthews said. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes, sometimes you get in these periods of segments where it’s just you are fighting it a little bit and the puck is not bouncing your way. For us, it’s just sticking with it, continuing to push ourselves to be better and continue to create opportunities by getting more guys on the inside.”
The Wild went up 1-0 at 7:07 of the first period when Jakub Lauko won a puck battle behind the net against Morgan Rielly and centered to Khusnutdinov, who one-timed a shot from the slot between Woll’s pads. It was his second goal of the season in his 48th game.
“Legs were going good for us early which always helps, a couple shifts in their end helps the confidence,” Wild forward Devin Shore, who earned a second assist on the goal, said. “We were hunting down pucks and getting to the net. We just had a good work ethic and it went from there. I think we do a lot of that stuff most nights but the hockey Gods gave us a couple bounces, got the pucks in the right spots and that helps you build your game, especially in the first.”