Minnesota Wild Defeats Toronto Maple Leafs for Third Straight Loss
Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves as the Minnesota Wild edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Wednesday, marking Toronto's third straight regulation loss.
Goals were scored by Jared Spurgeon, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Marcus Foligno, who sealed the game with an empty-net goal. Minnesota's record improved to 30-17-4, while they are on a two-game winning streak and have a record of 3-5-0 in their last eight outings.
Khulsnutdinov opened the scoring after pushing ahead on his second goal of the campaign. Spurgeon then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal, scoring his sixth after Auston Matthews tipped the defenceman's shot past Joseph Woll unintentionally.
William Nylander responded for Toronto, which has only scored three goals during its current losing streak. Woll stopped 22 shots for the Leafs. The Wild played without star forward Kirill Kaprizov, their leading scorer, who is set to undergo surgery for a lower-body injury and is expected to miss at least four weeks.
Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Khusnutdinov and Spurgeon. Matthews hit the post on a shot later in the period, and Nylander rattled Gustavsson's crossbar during a breakaway in the second period.
Nylander cut the deficit to 2-1 midway through the third with his team-leading 29th goal of the season. However, Foligno sealed the win late in the game while Woll was on the bench for an extra attacker.
The Maple Leafs are set to begin a four-game road trip on Saturday against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
