Wild 3, Rangers 1
Kyle Brodziak and Pierre-Marc Bouchard each recorded a goal and an assist as the visiting Minnesota Wild bounced back from a pair of ugly losses with a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday.
Casey Wellman added his first goal and Jose Theodore made 40 saves for the Wild, who moved intoa tie for seventh place in the Western Conference with Los Angeles and Dallas at 74 points.
The Rangers took the early lead when Sean Avery snapped off his third goal at the 3:13 mark of the first period. But Theodore, getting the start after a pair of bad outings from Niklas Backstrom, settled down after that.
Minnesota got on the board at the 4:36 mark of the second when Brodziak recorded his 14th goal, tipping in Jared Spurgeon’s shot on the power play. The Wild took the lead eight minutes later when the rookie Wellman scored the second goal of his career, tipping in Brent Burns’ shot.
Bouchard added the insurance in the third, wristing a shot from the high slot between Henrik Lunqvist’s pads.
Lundqvist finished with 16 saves for New York.