NEW YORK _ No tweaking looked necessary, not when the Wild dispatched the Devils less than 24 hours before in mostly methodical fashion.
But like he did when he changed the order ahead of that 4-2 win Thursday, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau tinkered with the team's look.
And once again, his decision-making was spot on.
Winger Mikael Granlund scored twice to nix an 11-game drought after getting assigned to skate alongside Eric Staal, the dynamic duo of the 4-1 triumph over the Rangers Friday at Madison Square Garden.
The victory sealed a perfect 3-for-3 showing on the Wild's New York/New Jersey road trip, flipped the team into the third spot in the Central Division and secured a season-high four straight wins away from home.
Granlund ended up with a season-high four points, Staal also boasted four and goalie Devan Dubnyk corralled 22 pucks in his return to the crease after backup Alex Stalock worked the previous night.
Late in the first period, Granlund converted his first after a hustle play by Staal, whose pressure on the forecheck forced the puck to the front of the net where Granlund roofed it over Rangers rookie goalie Alexandar Georgiev in just his second career start at 16 minutes, 6 seconds.
It was Granlund's first goal since Jan. 25.
Before the period adjourned, Staal put the Wild up by 2 at 18:43 after a slick passing sequence between him and winger Zach Parise.
As the Wild entered the New York zone, Parise handed off to Staal, who fed the puck back to Parise before he dished a backhand into the slot. There, Staal got a piece of the puck to redirect it by Georgiev.
Initially, though, the goal was awarded to Granlund since it looked like Staal's deflection caromed off of Granlund's skate before crossing the goal line. But late in the game _ and after Granlund appeared to have scored a hat trick _ the goal was awarded to Staal.
After reaching the 900-point plateau Thursday, Staal recorded his 15th multi-point game of the season, which leads the Wild.
New York cut its deficit in half just 2:41 into the second period when winger Jesper Fast one-timed a cross-ice pass from center J.T. Miller, but giving up the goal didn't seem to rattle the Wild.
Instead, the team continued to generate quality offensive looks and after a power play carried over to the third, the Wild capitalized with Staal deflecting a Ryan Suter shot only 52 seconds into the third by Georgiev _ who had 33 saves. The team finished 1 for 1 with the man advantage, while the Rangers were 0 for 1.
This ended up being Staal's team-leading 29th goal, tying his total output from all of last season in his 61st game, and it continued an impressive week and 2017-18 for Staal.
The Wild received another insurance tally from Granlund, who slung in a wrist shot off a two-on-one break at 9:22 of the third.
With the win, the Wild moved into the third seed in the Central Division _ a spot they briefly occupied after the game Thursday before the Stars leapfrogged them to regain the post.
And since the Stars did not play Friday, the Wild was guaranteed to retain the No.3 slot longer than it did previously.
