Wild again find goals hard to come by, fall in overtime to Rangers

The Wild’s scoring slump is once again costing them.

They were outdone 3-2 in overtime Thursday at Xcel Energy Center by a struggling Rangers team that had dropped four in a row.

In the Wild’s six losses over their past nine games, they’ve been held to one or two goals; their two defeats prior were both shutouts.

“We’ve been having chances,” captain Jared Spurgeon said. “We just can’t find the net.”

Even the Wild’s most recent victory Tuesday was the less-is-more variety, with the team eking by the Avalanche 2-1 in a shootout after goaltender Filip Gustavsson was airtight until late in the third period.

He returned locked-in vs. New York, racking up 28 saves before Braden Schneider lifted in a backhander at 1 minute, 51 seconds of 3-on-3 overtime — a goal that went to video review because J.T. Miller bumped Gustavsson ahead of the shot, but the NHL Situation Room supported the on-ice call of good goal.

“Their read was I got enough time to reset,” Gustavsson said, “and that’s why they didn’t call it goalie interference.”

The Wild, who had won seven straight extra-time games, earned a point after converting twice on four power plays to overcome 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the third period. They’re now two points back of Colorado for third in the Central Division and eight points ahead of Calgary, which has the second wild-card seed behind the Wild.

After Marcus Johansson delivered the first equalizer 3:55 into the period, the Rangers regained the lead at 6:37 when Ham Lake’s Jonny Brodzinski flipped the puck past Jon Merrill and by Gustavsson’s glove from outside the circles.

“It’s hard,” said Gustavsson, who is 3-1-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average and .937 save percentage over his past five starts. “You miss it for half a second when they shoot around those legs.”

Frederick Gaudreau then responded 2:03 later after Johansson was bleeding from a high stick, putting the Wild on a four-minute power play.

“A good first period,” said captain Jared Spurgeon, who assisted on both power-play goals. “I thought the second [was] not as good. But I thought we came out in the third and played more our game with getting in the forecheck and getting some more zone time.”

Unlike some of their other efforts when they dominated the puck and probably deserved a better fate around the net, the Wild weren’t as dynamic and dangerous before their third-period rally.

Actually, one of their best chances came from the fourth line in its most noticeable game since the Wild added forward Justin Brazeau from Boston on March 6 for forwards Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko and a 2026 sixth-round draft pick: Shesterkin blocked a one-timer from Brazeau set up by a pinching Brock Faber in the second period.

BOXSCORE: Rangers 3, Wild 2 (OT)

NHL standings

“They won their shifts,” coach John Hynes said, “and they won their matchup.”

New York, meanwhile, tested Gustavsson early and often.

A Will Cuylle attempt stuck to him like Velcro. Gustavsson was in position to prevent Miller from wrapping the puck around him. Then he made the first stop and denied the rebound on the Wild’s first penalty kill.

It took Vincent Trocheck collecting his own rebound after whiffing on the initial shot and sending his do-over between Gustavsson and the near post at 6:45 of the second for the Rangers to finally capitalize.

Later in the second, the Wild committed two more penalties only three minutes apart. The PK held off the New York power play, but the Wild were on the defensive instead of concentrating play at the other end.

That changed in the third, when the Rangers got in penalty trouble.

First, Johansson wired in a snapshot off the rush just before the Wild’s power play expired. Johansson’s goal was his first in 17 games, and Gustav Nyquist’s assist was his first since joining the team in a March 1 trade from Nashville.

After Brodzinski answered back, the Wild returned to the power play, and that’s when Gaudreau accepted a Ryan Hartman pass with his back to the net, deked to his forehand and then buried the puck behind Shesterkin, who had 26 saves.

“The way we’ve decided to look at it is, OK, the puck’s not going into the net easy for us,” Hynes said. “But are we generating chances? Are we getting outplayed and then not getting any offense? No, that’s not the case.

“We’re playing some really good hockey, but we’re not getting the bounces. We’re not getting any puck luck.”