Will Borgen played the puck into the zone and shot it off Gustavsson, who redirected it behind the net. Jared Spurgeon, with Will Cuylle on him, appeared to inadvertently poke it to Mika Zibanejad, who found Panarin cutting through the left circle.
Panarin scored from the edge of the circle with a shot over Gustavsson’s glove to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
“They scored early, the Rangers, and no heads on the bench went down,” Gustavsson said. “They went straight out the next shift and kept grinding, and went back to keeping a very tight back end and longer offensive shifts. It felt more like us.”
The Wild took control of the game after Panarin scored.
Brodin tied it 1-1 at 5:10, scoring with a wrist shot from the left circle that deflected off Alexis Lafreniere‘s stick and then Shesterkin’s stick before going into the top right corner of the net.
Minnesota outshot New York 16-6 in the first period. It had a 36-12 advantage in total shot attempts.
The Wild’s start was in response to a video session Hynes put the team through Monday morning.
“We went back and showed some things from the beginning of the season, whether it was preseason or our first few games, where we were really playing how we wanted to play, but the pucks weren’t going in the net,” Hynes said.
“Then we drifted away. It’s why you have structure and why you have an identity. Sometimes when it goes well you don’t worry about it, but when you hit a little bit of a rut you’ve got to really recommit to it and believe in it. The guys did a great job of that tonight.”
Yurov, a rookie playing his fifth NHL game, gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 8:16 of the third period when he backhanded in a loose puck in the slot as Shesterkin was down and lost his stick.
“Yesterday, I had dinner with my agent, he’s also the agent for Shesterkin,” Yurov said. “I told him I’ll score on Igor.”
Yurov won the face-off in the left circle and Marcus Johansson got the puck at the top. He took it all the way down and around the net, wrapping it around the right post to get it in front, where Yurov cashed in.
“I just see the puck drop in front of the goalie and I go five-hole,” Yurov said. “I’m happy to be here, to score first goal. Finally, it’s happened. This is my (childhood) dream. … I’m so happy.”