ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Wild is still working to get up to speed after a COVID-19 outbreak pulled the plug on the team's season for almost two weeks.
But that didn't matter against the floundering Anaheim Ducks.
In what was far from a clean effort, the Wild had enough juice to upend the Ducks 3-1 Thursday at Honda Center for the team's first win since it restarted the season with this five-game, make-or-break road trip.
Ryan Hartman, Kevin Fiala and Marcus Foligno scored for the Wild, and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen had 16 saves in front of a lineup that was closer to the Wild's normal posture than the outfit that skated in the 4-0 loss at Los Angeles on Tuesday in the team's first game back.
Four more regulars joined the mix against Anaheim, including two on defense, but most of the attention was on the offense after it was shut out by the Kings.
And it didn't take long for the Wild to shake off that funk.
Hartman opened the scoring 7 minutes, 27 seconds into the first period after scooping up a Ducks turnover and wiring the puck over goalie John Gibson for his second goal of the season; both tallies have come in Anaheim.
Just 38 seconds later, the Wild scored again – this time after Fiala buried the rebound off a Mats Zuccarello shot, a perfect example of the pucks and bodies to the front of the net philosophy the Wild focused on during an off-day practice Wednesday. The goal was Fiala's fourth in his last six games, the second-most on the Wild, and the assist was Zuccarello's first point of the season in his second game after his debut was delayed following offseason arm surgery.
Specials teams took over after that, and the setup didn't suit either team.
First, the Wild blanked on its first chance of the game – a situation that seemed to stall the momentum the team garnered from its quick two-goal outburst. And then the team committed back-to-back penalties to give Anaheim 1:06 of 5-on-3 time.
But the Ducks, who were still searching for their first shot, didn't take advantage. They did, however, get a puck on net and finished the period with three compared to nine for the Wild.
The second period started out ho-hum for both squads, with neither side recording a shot through the first five-plus minutes. Not until the Wild was on the power play nearing the midway point of the period did it finally test Gibson, a wrister by Ryan Suter, but again the Wild couldn't capitalize with the extra attacker.
At 12 minutes of the second, the Ducks finally applied some consistent pressure on the Wild and were rewarded for it when Sam Steel's backhander flew by Kahkonen. The shot was Anaheim's fifth of the game, and the Ducks wrapped the period with nine overall.
Not much changed in the third, a mostly sleepy conclusion that included an insurance goal courtesy Foligno. He finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Nick Bonino and Zach Parise at 16:15, just as a Ducks penalty was expiring.
In the end, the Wild went 1-for-5 and is 4-for-50 on the season. Anaheim went 0-for-2.
Gibson totaled 24 saves for the Ducks.
With the win, the Wild (7-6) climbed out of the basement of the West Division – hurdling the Sharks, who have the same number of points (14) as the Wild but have played more games.
