First-period goals guide Wild to win over Leafs

Jared Spurgeon scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the first period and the visiting Minnesota Wild went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Marat Khusnutdinov and Marcus Foligno (empty net) also scored for the Wild, who have won the first two games of a five-game road trip after losing five of their previous six.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 32 shots for the Wild for his second straight win after he dropped four in a row. Minnesota swept the two-game season series with Toronto.

William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three in a row and have been held to one goal in each. Joseph Woll made 22 saves.

Khusnutdinov scored on a shot from the bottom of the right circle at 7:07 of the first period. Jakub Lauko won the puck behind the net and made the pass. Devin Shore also assisted.

Spurgeon scored at 15:35 of the first, five seconds into a power play, when his 58-foot shot was deflected by Toronto's Auston Matthews and trickled past Woll. David Kampf was off for tripping.

The goal was Spurgeon's 400th career point. Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek earned the assists.

Nylander moved into the slot to swipe home a pass from Pontus Holmberg at 8:16 of the third period, halving the deficit to 2-1. Max Domi earned the other assist.

Woll was removed for an extra attacker with two minutes remaining in the third period.

Foligno poked the puck into the empty net from 21 feet at 19:45 with Frederick Gaudreau earning the assist.

Gustavsson also was in goal when the Wild won the first meeting between the teams 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 3 in Saint Paul, Minn.

On Wednesday, Minnesota was without Kirill Kaprizov, who is considered week-to-week due to a lower-body injury that required surgical repair.

Maple Leafs winger Max Pacioretty returned from a three-game injury absence, taking the place of Matthew Knies (upper-body injury).

--Field Level Media