The Wild and Coyotes are nowhere near each other in the NHL's hierarchy, a gap that revealed itself in a dramatic way in the second period when the Wild tallied more goals than the Coyotes did shots on net.
But that discrepancy didn't hold up.
Instead, the Coyotes seized control in the third period by securing three goals on seven shots to stun the Wild, 4-3, Tuesday in front of 18,706 at Xcel Energy Center.
Arizona winger Josh Archibald put the late comeback in motion and capped it off 8 minutes, 39 seconds into the third when he split the Wild defense to lift a shot over goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Earlier in the frame, Arizona started to chip away at a two-goal deficit when Archibald's rising shot eluded Dubnyk's blocker at 3:07.
The Wild challenged the goal to determine if the play was off-side but not only did the goal stand, the Coyotes were awarded a power play for the Wild's unsuccessful challenge.
Arizona didn't capitalize, going 0-for-1; the Wild went 1-for-2.
Only 3:55 later, the Coyotes scored again on a shot by winger Michael Grabner that got a piece of Dubnyk before rolling over the goal line.
It was a baffling collapse considering how the Wild dominated to that point _ even while sitting even with the Coyotes after one period.
The Coyotes opened the scoring 4:49 into the first on a seeing-eye shot from winger Lawson Crouse following a faceoff win in the Wild's zone.
Only 1:05 after that goal, the Wild responded with one of their own _ a redirection in front by winger Charlie Coyle off a Mikko Koivu feed. The assist was Koivu's ninth point in his last seven games.
Although the team didn't score any more in the first, the Wild looked comfortable against a beleaguered Arizona squad that had dropped its previous four games.
The weight of that streak seemed to surface in the second when the Coyotes registered only one shot on goal.
Tied at 1, the Coyotes that lone puck didn't reach Dubnyk until 2 minutes, 54 seconds remained in the frame _ a floater from winger Clayton Keller that the Wild netminder easily pawed.
By then, the Wild had already scored twice.
Only 2:20 into the period, the power play rebounded from a 0-for-6 showing during its last game on a fortuitous sequence.
A point shot from defenseman Matt Dumba caromed off the glass behind the net and bounced in front to winger Zach Parise, who deflected the puck behind Arizona goalie Antti Raanta.
The goal was Parise's team-leading 11th, and the assist extended Dumba's career-high point streak to seven games _ a span in which he's corralled 10 points. Dumba's run also ties Ryan Suter's franchise record for longest point streak by a defenseman.
Later in the period, the Wild widened their cushion on a blistering shot from winger Jason Zucker from the slot at 11:21.
But the Coyotes were much better third in the third, this after Adin Hill replaced Raanta _ who left the game with a lower-body injury. Raanta finished with 17 saves, while Hill had five in relief.
Dubnyk, in his return to the lineup after getting pulled last Wednesday in the 6-4 win over the Jets and missing the ensuring 4-2 rally by the Jets due to illness, made 10 stops.
