Wild turns it on in third period to beat Boston 4-2

Jordan Greenway had one shot turned away and then another before getting tangled up in the traffic that descended on the Bruins' crease.

"I was getting frustrated because I think I had a couple chances to put one in," the winger said. "They were laying down, blocking shots, this and that."

But when he received his next try, Greenway didn't miss — connecting on a loose puck as he fell to the ice to appropriately wrap a nearly 30-second, juggernaut sequence by the Wild.

"Probably the best shift I think I've ever seen," coach Dean Evason said.

Not only did the play deliver the game-winning goal in a 4-2 slugfest with Boston in front of 17,956 on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center that snapped the Wild's two-game slide, but the effort was also a reminder of what happens when the Wild rediscovers its identity.

"We took a little hiatus I guess from that," said goaltender Cam Talbot, referring to the Wild's recent skid in which the team has dropped 11 of its 18 games since the All-Star break. "But every game from here on out's going to be playoff-type atmosphere, and that's what it takes to win in the playoffs. It's going to take those grind-it-out, hard-nosed games, and we're built for that.

"We showed it tonight."

Greenway scored 7 minutes, 56 seconds into the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie with his second goal in as many games before Ryan Hartman tacked on an empty-netter with five seconds left for his 24th of the season. Talbot made 24 saves in his fourth straight victory, and Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman had 30 stops.

This finish backed up consecutive goals by Kirill Kaprizov, who led the Wild to an early 2-0 lead.

On a revamped power play, Kaprizov opened the scoring with a shot from deep in the zone at 6:55 of the first period.

Then, at 14:28, he took a breakaway pass from linemate Mats Zuccarello and flicked the puck over Swayman for his sixth multi-goal game of the season. In between the goals, Brandon Duhaime fought Boston's Trent Frederic, who injured Kaprizov on Jan. 6 in Boston when he boarded Kaprizov.

BOXSCORE: Wild 4, Boston 2

Overall, Kaprizov is up to 32 goals; not only is that 10 shy of the Wild's single-season record, but Kaprizov is only eight points away from tying the Wild's points record for a season (83 by Marian Gaborik in 2007-08).

With the assist on Kaprizov's second goal, Zuccarello matched his career high in points (61) previously set in 2015-16 with the New York Rangers.

But that wasn't enough offense to hold off the Bruins, who began their comeback before the first period ended when Craig Smith pounced on a carom off Matt Dumba's skate with 3:01 to go.

By 1:49 of the second period, Boston pulled even with its own power-play goal — a shot from the middle by Brad Marchand.

That was the 13th goal surrendered by the Wild penalty kill over the past 10 games; the Bruins ended up 1-for-2 on the power play, the Wild 1-for-3.

"They're a good team," Alex Goligoski said. "They battled back. It was back to work."

Cue Greenway's line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno, a trio that had been a wrecking ball all night.

Aside from the goal, Greenway finished with six shots on net and four hits in 13:41 of ice time. His line totaled 11 hits, and Greenway's three game-winners are tied for the second most on the team.

"He's pretty hard to stop when he's like that," Eriksson Ek said of the 6-6, 231-pound Greenway. "How long he can reach, how strong he is, and how well he moves for being that big is special."

With the win, the Wild reclaimed third place in the Central Division after getting bumped to a wild-card position. The team has 74 points with 23 games to go, including seven on a franchise-long nine-game homestand that now includes a fresh example of the style of play that suits the Wild.

"We've just got to keep that in our memory bank," Greenway said. "We've just got to focus on what allowed us to eventually come out with a win."