ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marco Rossi scored twice and Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists for the Minnesota Wild in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Matt Boldy also scored for Minnesota, which has won three in a row after firing coach Dean Evason and replacing him with John Hynes. The Wild had scored only 13 goals in losing seven straight games, leading to Evason’s dismissal. In the three games since, Minnesota has outscored opponents 13-3.
“It’s really been a good week and I think today it was just continuing to hammer home the way we want to play,” Hynes said.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots for the Wild, who have won 10 in a row against Chicago.
The Blackhawks lost their third game in a row overall, with Petr Mrazek making 30 saves. Taylor Raddysh scored in the third period for Chicago, which has been outscored 13-2 during its losing streak.
“Well, definitely not a good night for us,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. “They’re probably still showing their new coach that they want to play and they really, I thought they outskated us and competed us in those tough areas, especially in front of the net and corners.”
In No. 1 draft pick Connor Bedard’s first game in Minnesota, it was the Wild’s standout rookie duo playing a big role on Sunday. Rossi, who has been elevated to the top line with Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov, scored just 2:11 into the game.
Brock Faber’s shot from the point was deflected by Rossi for his seventh goal of the season. He added his eighth 10 minutes later on the power play after Frederick Gaudreau used a quick pass from the side to Rossi alone in front.
Bedard was the NHL’s rookie of the month in November with six goals and six assists in 12 games and is the Calder Trophy favorite. Rossi is second among rookies with eight goals, trailing Bedard’s 11.
Sunday marked Rossi’s first career multigoal game. Faber is first among rookies with a plus-7 rating.
“What I’ve noticed with them is not just the talent level, but both guys can skate,” Hynes said of Rossi and Faber. “It’s a skating league. You have to be able to play quick and fast. Both guys can do that. But just their maturity level as players, they play both sides of the puck well.”
Zuccarello made it 3-0 before the end of the first period, and Boldy added his third goal of the season on the power play in the second.
“So far, we’ve played really good,” Rossi said. “The most important thing was the first PK to give us that momentum, and then after that we were rolling. That was huge. (Fleury) had some really good saves. He kept us in the game. After that, it was a wake-up call. That was the key for everything.”
UP NEXT
Blackhawks: Host Nashville on Tuesday night.
Wild: At Calgary on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
