Wild's losing streak comes to an end with 3-2 shootout victory over New Jersey

The Wild finally looked more like themselves, and they were rewarded for it.

After posting their first lead in three games and skating with a desperation appropriate for their situation, they stood up the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday in front of 19,065 at Xcel Energy Center to end their three-game losing streak.

"It was more like us, for sure," coach Dean Evason said.

This slump-busting victory moved the Wild (60 points) back into the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference after a win by the Flames (60 points) dropped the Wild out of the playoff picture earlier in the day; the Wild currently hold the tiebreaker, having played one fewer game.

Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau converted in the shootout to both improve to 4-for-7 this season, with Zuccarello picking up his 12th career game-deciding goal, while Filip Gustavsson denied both attempts by New Jersey after stopping 27 pucks through regulation and overtime. Ryan Hartman had the equalizer in the third period for the Wild's first 5-on-5 goal in three games.

"The way we played that 60 minutes, it was pretty positive," Evason said. "But to get that extra point and get that extra reinforcement was important for us."

As vital as this finish was for the Wild, they set the tone with their start.

After juggling most of their lines, the Wild were aggressive in the first period and capitalized on the power play at 5:52 when Joel Eriksson Ek tipped in a Calen Addison shot.

The goal lifted Eriksson Ek to the 20-goal plateau for a second consecutive season and pushed his point streak to five games. Addison's assist gave him 30 points, tying him with Filip Kuba for the most by a rookie defenseman in Wild history.

Eriksson Ek's tally also secured the Wild's first lead since the third period of a 3-2 loss on Monday at Arizona.

But for a third straight game, the Wild had a lull in the second period; that's also when they fell apart in recent setbacks to Dallas and Vegas.

Only 2:45 into the second, Tomas Tatar wired in a one-timer just seconds after the Wild were back to full strength following an Eriksson Ek holding penalty. New Jersey ended up 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Wild finished 1-for-3.

Soon after, the Devils' Nathan Bastian was whistled for roughing Kirill Kaprizov, but the Wild never went on that power play; Bastian and Hartman fought, and Hartman was assessed an instigator penalty and a 10-minute misconduct.

"It's a terrible call," Hartman said. "I missed 17 minutes of hockey. The explanation I was given was that I skated from our blue line into the fight when I was there the whole time."

At 6:04, New Jersey moved ahead of the Wild when a Damon Severson shot hit Tatar and floated by Gustavsson and into the Wild net.

Instead of fading in the third period like they did during their funk, the Wild seized momentum at 5:25 when Matt Dumba's shot hit Hartman on the inside of the left elbow. The puck caromed off Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton's skate before rolling into the net and away from goaltender Vitek Vanecek, who totaled 22 saves.

"Sometimes, especially the way it's been going lately, it could be easy to just think it's not going to go our way," Gaudreau said. "That's not what we did. That's not how we think. We just believed that if we kept doing the right things, our bounces would come and they did."

In overtime, Gaudreau was caught on the ice for nearly three minutes and Gustavsson made a clutch stop on Yegor Sharangovich before stymieing Hamilton.

"It's just a cat-and-mouse game," said Gustavsson, who has limited the opposition to two goals or fewer in 14 of his 20 starts. "You try and catch someone off guard, and hopefully they're more tired than you are and they can catch a 2-on-1 or a breakaway. They got one of those, and I was able to get a hand on it."

By the time the shootout arrived, there was no turning back for the Wild.

"We've been struggling, but that's a character win," Hartman said. "We're going to try to keep going from that."