Minnesota Wild at Toronto Maple Leafs

Wild win 3-1 to hand Maple Leafs third straight regulation loss

Marcus Foligno added an empty-netter in the final minute as Minnesota won its second straight to improve to 3-5-0 in their last eight games.

William Nylander scored for Toronto, which has lost three straight in regulation. Joseph Woll had 22 saves.

The Wild were without leading-scorer Kirill Kaprizov (lower-body injury), who is is set to undergo surgery and is expected to miss at least four weeks.

Khusnutdinov scored 7:07 into the game and Spurgeon made it 2-0 with 4:25 to go in the opening period.

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews hit the post on a shot through traffic later in the period before Nylander rattled Gustavsson’s crossbar on a breakaway in the second.

Nylander cut the deficit in half at 8:6 of the third with his team-leading 29th goal of the season, but Foligno iced it late with Woll on the bench for an extra attacker.

Takeaways Wild: Veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury will play in Montreal one more time Thursday when Minnesota visits the Canadiens. The 40-year-old from Quebec, is 10-5-1 with a .904 save percentage and 2.61 goals-against average in his final NHL season.

Maple Leafs: Max Pacioretty (upper-body injury) returned to the lineup following a three-game absence.

Key moment Spurgeon made it 2-0 on a man advantage with his sixth of the season when Matthews inadvertently tipped the defenseman’s point shot past Woll.

Key stat Kaprizov, who missed his 14th game because of injury, has 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) in 2024-25. The 27-year-old entered Wednesday with an average of 1.41 points per contest, which placed him fifth in the NHL.

Up Next Wild play at Montreal on Thursday, and Maple Leafs visit Edmonton on Saturday to open a four-game trip.

MIN wins series 2-0