The Wild have won in the last week than the past month.
Marco Rossi scored twice, Mats Zuccarello’s three points extended his scoring streak and Marc-Andre Fleury was solid in a 4-1 dusting of the Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center that signaled three straight Wild wins for the first time this season.
They remain undefeated under new coach John Hynes, whose arrival coincided with the team’s turnaround from a seven-game losing streak.
Rossi’s first career two-goal game started with a deflection on a Brock Faber shot 2 minutes, 11 seconds into the first period and by 12:08, Rossi was on hat trick watch after he finished off tic-tac-toe passing by the power play at 12:08. His eight goals are the second-most in the NHL among rookies.
Faber also had a two-point performance, assisting on both of Rossi’s goals for a career-high effort.
With 2:53 to go in the first, Zuccarello one-timed in a Kirill Kaprizov pass.
Zuccarello was the playmaker on the Wild’s next goal, a Matt Boldy tip on the power play 11:36 into the second period. The winger has three goals and 10 assists during a nine-game point streak that’s one game shy of tying his career high.
The Wild power play finished 2-for-3, and their penalty kill went 3-for-4; Chicago’s Taylor Raddysh capitalized on the power play with 7:05 to go in the third period.
Fleury totaled 27 saves and is up to 548 career wins, which is four away from passing Patrick Roy for the second most in NHL history.
Next up for the Wild is a four-game road trip vs. the Western Conference that starts on Tuesday at Calgary.