Wild hang on for win against Rangers

ST. PAUL, Minn. --The Minnesota Wild scored three goals in the opening 6:17 and hung on for a 3-2 win against the New York Rangers at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

Devan Dubnyk made 18 of his 32 saves in the second period for Minnesota, which is 5-1-1 in its past seven games and 9-2-2 in its past 13, allowing two goals or fewer in each win.

WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Wild highlights]
"The message (in the second intermission) was the same as I've been telling them lately: 'Do you want to keep on going on like this and getting 40 shots on a goal a game, having to fight. You get a 3-0 lead and fight to keep it. It's not the right way to play. Play the right way and something good will probably happen to you,'" Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "... Getting a 3-0 lead, it seems to me that we say, 'OK, we've got three, let's stop right there.'"
The Wild (31-19-6, 68 points), who allowed four shots on goal in the third period, lead the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks by three points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Defenseman John Gilmour scored his first NHL goal for the Rangers, who lost for the first time in three games.
"We beat ourselves," said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 26 saves. "It's tough, especially the way we played for 45-50 minutes. That's the way we need to start, and it's on all of us."
New York (27-25-5, 59 points) is four points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Eric Staal scored unassisted to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead 3:09 into the game after stealing the puck from defenseman Nick Holden in the neutral zone.
Zach Parise scored unassisted to make it 2-0 at 4:34 when he got his stick on a pass by forward Rick Nash from the bottom of the left face-off circle and the puck got past Lundqvist.
"That was the difference in the game, to be honest, capitalizing on some turnovers by them," said Parise, who has one goal and three assists during a four-game point streak. "They've got some important guys out of the lineup and hurt and some guys from Hartford [of the American Hockey League], so you want to make it tough on them. When we did that, we got rewarded; when we didn't do that, when we turned it over, we made it pretty easy for them."
Marcus Foligno scored with a one-timer from above the left hash marks off a pass from Daniel Winnik to make it 3-0 at 6:17.
Gilmour scored on the power play at 8:50 of the first to get the Rangers within 3-1. It was his third NHL game.

Kevin Hayes scored on the power play when he kept the puck on a 2-on-1 with Michael Grabner and beat Dubnyk to the glove side from the left circle to make it 3-2 at 11:46 of the second period.
Defenseman Neal Pionk got his first NHL assist on the goal.
"Just a few self-inflicted wounds that can't happen," Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei said. "They went [ahead 3-0]. I thought our second and third period were really strong, and I thought we were playing, getting pucks behind their defensemen and we definitely did have our looks tonight, just couldn't capitalize on them."

Goal of the game

Parise's goal at 4:34 of the first period.

Save of the game

Dubnyk stopping J.T. Miller with 50 seconds remaining in the third period.

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Highlight of the game

Staal's goal at 3:09 of the first period.

They said it

"Every guy that's been coming in here has been helping the team be a better team. I'm impressed with the way they handle themselves and prepare themselves. It's a big thing to play your first couple games (in the NHL), for sure. We're in a tough spot, they're doing their best to help this group right now, and I like it." -- Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on the performance of young defensemen with four veterans out of the lineup because of injury
"If we keep winning, everybody (in the Western Conference) can't keep winning. … It feels like everybody's winning all the time, (so) all you can do is keep winning your games and eventually you're going to create some separation. This (five-game) homestand has been a good opportunity for us, and it's gone well so far. So hopefully we can continue that for a couple more." -- Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk

Need to know

Rangers defenseman Ryan Sproul was minus-1 with one hit in 10:58 in his first NHL game this season. … Staal has three goals and two assists in a four-game point streak and 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 11 games. … The Wild extended their record for a home point streak to 13 games (10-0-3).

What's next

Rangers: At the New York Islanders (7 p.m. ET; MSG+ 2, MSG, NHL.TV)
Wild:Host the Washington Capitals on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)