Sports

/

ArcaMax

Danila Yurov's first NHL goal lifts Wild past Rangers 3-1

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on

Published in Hockey

NEW YORK — The Minnesota Wild finally played an offense struggling more than theirs.

After snapping a historic scoring scoring drought, the New York Rangers struggled again, and the Wild squeaked by 3-1 Monday night at Madison Square Garden to end their three-game losing streak.

Rookie forward Danila Yurov scored his first NHL goal in his fifth career game, converting a rebound in the third period to split a 1-1 tie that had been in place since the first period.

Kirill Kaprizov polished off the victory with an empty-netter, and goaltender Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves.

Overall, the Wild are 3-3-1.

How it happened

While New York goalie Igor Shesterkin was sprawled on his back, Yurov pounced on a loose puck and his shot banked in off Shesterkin’s stick 8 minutes, 16 seconds into the third before Kaprizov’s 136-footer with 1:36 left (his first point in three games) to complete the Wild’s rally.

The Rangers were the first team in NHL history to get shut out in its first three home games, but they needed only 57 seconds to capitalize against the Wild.

Artemi Panarin got loose in the middle to flip a wrister by Gustavsson and nix their skid just shy of the 1928 Pittsburgh Pirates’ record for longest scoreless streak at home to start a season (187:19).

But it didn’t take long for the Wild to retaliate.

At 5:10, Jonas Brodin’s deflected shot handcuffed Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin.

Turning point

Brodin’s first goal of the season was part of a Wild takeover in the first.

They peppered Shesterkin (29 saves) with pucks and made life difficult on the New York defense, which had a tough time getting out of its zone. This pressure culminated in the Wild’s first of three power plays, with the Rangers at one point clearing the puck over the boards and getting dinged for a delay of game.

Although the Wild didn’t take advantage of any of their chances — this was the third straight game they haven’t netted a power play goal — they were generating consistent offensive-zone time, and that wasn’t the case during their losing streak. New York blanked on its lone power play.

Key stat

 

The Wild’s 17 shots in the first period were one more than they had in their 2-1 overtime loss to the Flyers on Saturday.

What it means

They’re still waiting for a breakout performance, but the Wild got the result they deserved.

Their goal output was not indicative of their effort, which was the sharpest it’s been since the season-opening 5-0 dusting of the Blues, and that’s commendable considering who was missing.

Veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian remained out, but the Wild were also missing center Marco Rossi.

Like Bogosian, Rossi has a lower-body injury from a shot block; he was hurt in Philadelphia but finished that game.

Rossi’s exit snapped what was a team-leading ironman streak of 173 games that began on April 10, 2023.

“When a guy like him says he can’t play,” coach John Hynes said, “then you know there’s something really bothering him.”

In Rossi’s absence, the Wild elevated Yurov and added Ben Jones up the middle, and the promotion suited Yurov, who has been responsible away from the puck but had yet to show his offensive potential that made him a first-round pick by the Wild in 2022.

That finally changed.

Up next

This road trip concludes Wednesday at New Jersey, which is off to a strong start at 4-1.

But the Wild will have the edge in rest: The Devils play in Toronto on Tuesday night.

____


©2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus