Wild use long road trip to get NHL season off to a great start

PITTSBURGH – The Wild aren’t coming back to Minnesota as the same team that departed for seven in a row on the road.

Since their two-leg trip began on Oct.13, the Wild overcame their first wave of injuries. They got the first goalie goal in franchise history, upset the Stanley Cup champions and went on the second-longest season-opening streak in NHL history without trailing in regulation.

Kirill Kaprizov became one of the leading scorers in the league and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury christened his final game in Pittsburgh with an emotional victory.

In a nutshell, the Wild turned into one of the top teams in the league during their 17-day stint away from Xcel Energy Center.

Is now really the time to return?

“Hopefully we can keep it going at home,” defenseman Brock Faber said after Tuesday’s 5-3 victory over the Penguins.

The 5-1-1 record is the picture on the postcard, but it’s how the Wild arrived at those outcomes that is most memorable.

Take the first stop in Winnipeg. At the time, captain Jared Spurgeon and center Joel Eriksson Ek were hurt, a reminder how last season started when the Wild buckled under early injuries to key players. But, playing on the second of a back-to-back, they eked out a point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Jets.

Two nights later, they outdueled the Blues 4-1 in St. Louis while still shorthanded, getting a boost from goaltender Filip Gustavsson’s 164-foot empty-net goal.

“This is one of the hardest-working teams I’ve been on,” veteran winger Mats Zuccarello said. “Everyone in this league works hard, but we work smart. We work for each other.”

After upending the Blue Jackets 3-1 in Columbus on Oct. 19 with Eriksson Ek back in action, the Wild had their coup when they swooped into Florida and dismantled the reigning champion Panthers 5-1.

Not until their next game in Tampa Bay did the Wild finally fall behind in regulation. They went 19 periods without trailing, a run of 391 minutes, 31 seconds that ranks second only to the 1969-70 Bruins’ 457:21. Still, they rallied to beat the Lightning 4-2 for their fourth straight win.

“The focus has been a game at a time,” center Frederick Gaudreau said. “So cliché, but that’s what we’ve done. Got a win, build off of that, and it’s giving us great result[s]. That’s it. We stay in the moment.”

There was a slip-up Saturday in a 7-5 loss to the Flyers, but before finally catching a flight home, they outlasted the Penguins 5-3 on Tuesday, a night dedicated to Fleury’s final game in Pittsburgh.

But he wasn’t the only player to deliver. Kaprizov continued to dominate, assisting on two key goals before scoring an empty-netter. He has six straight multi-point games, which is tied for the franchise record, and his seven overall this season are tops in the NHL. The winger is also tied for the league lead in scoring with 18 points in nine games.

“It’s fun to be able to coach a guy like that,” coach John Hynes said. “Just his passion for the game but the competitiveness, that stands out every night. But the ability to make plays and make plays you don’t think can happen is pretty special.”

And the Wild are getting healthier; Spurgeon returned on Tuesday, so center Ryan Hartman is the team’s lone injured player now.

Jakub Lauko capitalized against Pittsburgh, the winger posting the first even-strength goal from the fourth line, and Gaudreau had a pair of goals.

“We built up a pretty solid game lately,” said Gaudreau, who had five goals all last season. “I take a lot of pride in that and doing the little details and being a line that can change momentum here and there and build momentum in their zone, and I think we’ve done that.

“Of course, there’s always pressure with statistics. Some people look at that. It’s fun when it comes, but I’m 10 times more happy that we got the win than anything else.”

The victory capped off a special evening for Fleury, with the goalie stopping 26 shots from his former team while getting cheered throughout the game by Penguins fans as they watched the three-time Stanley Cup champion in the last season of his Hall-of-Fame career before he retires.

“Love the way the guys compete and battle,” Fleury said. “It was definitely a stinger to miss the playoffs last year, and I feel everybody wants to put that behind us and move forward and do better. The way they’ve been battling and confident and coming back in games and holding onto leads in the games, I think those are things we’ve been good at.

“It’s been a lot of fun. Lot of fun winning games.”

The Wild (6-1-2) won’t be able to get too comfortable in Minnesota. After a three-game, five-day homestand that kicks off Friday with a rematch against Tampa Bay, they’ll be back on the road.

What version of the Wild leaves for that trip will go a long way in determining the team’s overall identity.

“Just because we won on the road doesn’t mean we’ll win at home,” Hynes said. “It’s gotta be the mindset and the way that we play. That’s the most important thing now.”