Jared Spurgeon scores twice on his 35th birthday as Wild beat Blackhawks 3-2

Like he has in the past, Jared Spurgeon hosted Thanksgiving for his Wild teammates, the captain welcoming about 50 players, their wives or girlfriends and children into his home.

Aside from the hams, Spurgeon had the meal brought in after cooking last year was “too much” of an undertaking.

“It was chaos, but it was a good chaos,” Spurgeon said. “It was fun. Good time to get together and get away from the rink. Obviously, the people without family, to be able to come over and hang out was a good time.”

But Spurgeon’s generosity didn’t stop there.

The defenseman continued to give back to the Wild on Friday afternoon, scoring twice to complete a 3-2 rally against the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center and commemorate his 35th birthday with his first two goals of the season.

“That guy doesn’t look like he’s slowing down either, right?” said goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who turned 40 on Thursday and picked up 20 saves in the victory. “He’s flying out there, so it’s fun.”

At 15-4-4, the Wild are back to second in the NHL, thanks to only their second two-goal comeback.

After a listless start by the Wild, Marco Rossi and Spurgeon capitalized just 17 seconds apart in the second period before Spurgeon delivered the tiebreaker with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left on a shot just inside the blue line that handcuffed Chicago goalie Petr Mrázek.

“Straight lines and simple hockey; that works for us,” said Spurgeon, whose NHL debut was on his 21st birthday. “I think around the 10-minute mark you could see us sort of get back to that, and that’s when we got our chances.”

The Wild trailed 2-0 after goals from former Wild forward Ryan Donato, the first coming on the game’s first shot after Donato pounced on a puck that deflected to him in front of the Wild net at 2:23 of the first period.

His second arrived on the power play 5:43 into the second period during the first of three chances for the Blackhawks; the Wild went 0-for-2.

“It was a little bit sleepy in the first, just our speed and our minds,” coach John Hynes said. “We didn’t play the way we wanted to play. But I thought the second we got to that game.”

Rossi finished off a 3-on-2 rush at 10:22, burying a Marcus Johansson pass set up by Kirill Kaprizov, who was skating in his 300th game. Then Spurgeon converted on the very next shift, his throw to the middle bouncing in off Chicago’s Connor Murphy.

Those were the fastest two Wild goals since Jake Middleton and Jordan Greenway scored in 15 seconds on Dec. 4, 2022.

With 112 career goals, Spurgeon moved past Eric Staal for eighth all-time with the Wild.

Mrázek had 26 saves, while Fleury became the second goalie in NHL history to win as a teenager and as a 40-year-old; Martin Brodeur is the other.

Fleury improved to 5-0-1 and is one of two goaltenders without a regulation loss.

“Maybe early in the games, I don’t always feel as comfortable as when you play lots,” said Fleury, who remains in the backup role behind Filip Gustavsson. “It takes a few shots maybe to get in and little time, but the boys battle hard every time I’ve been in the net.

“Lot of blocks. We score some goals, which helps. So, it’s good to be able to contribute when I can and cheer when I’m on the bench and cheer for Gus and encourage him.”

BOXSCORE: Wild 3, Chicago 2

What’s been particularly encouraging for the Wild is how Spurgeon has been able to stay in action since a six-game absence in October as he continued to heal from season-ending hip and back surgeries.

“You go through camp and everything’s just fine, and then just out of nowhere,” he said. “So, it was in the back of the mind, but now I’m just trying to go with it every day, day by day, and not really think about it.”

Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin were one of the stingiest pairings in the NHL before Brodin was sidelined recently with an upper-body injury.

Brodin still is being evaluated but won’t play Saturday vs. the Predators; neither will Jakub Lauko, who is out because of a lower-body injury. The Wild, however, did get Marat Khusnutdinov back Friday after he sat out three games with a lower-body injury.

Still, Spurgeon and Declan Chisholm have formed an effective duo the past few games, with Spurgeon’s reliability shining through — between the boards and away from the rink.

“Just having him around, having his leadership presence, it’s a night-and-day different feel as a group of guys,” fellow defenseman Brock Faber said. “Obviously, he’s the leader of that. His off-ice characteristics and on-ice are just helping us a whole lot.”