NEW YORK — Only one mistake ended up in the Wild’s net through two periods, one of their cleanest displays since a season-opening shutout a month ago.
But a miscue in the third combined with a production malfunction at the other end of the rink undermined their earlier strides.
One goal was all the offense could muster, the Wild finishing on the losing side of a thin margin for error that eventually erupted into a 4-1 runaway win for the Rangers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden that snapped the Wild’s short-lived two-game surge.
This road trip concludes on Friday at Buffalo.
Alex Lafreniere’s tiebreaker just 1 minute, 41 seconds into the third period snuffed out the Wild’s rally from a first-period lull that was limited to a one-goal blip thanks to 13 of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s 24 total saves.
A pinch by defenseman Brock Faber led to the 3-on-1 rush the other way for the Rangers, with Artemi Panarin setting up Lafreniere to extend Panarin’s point streak to a whopping 13 games.
Then on their first power play, the Rangers widened their lead when Blake Wheeler pounced on a loose puck in front with 5:21 to go for his first goal since the Minnesota native joined the Rangers after getting bought out by Winnipeg.
Panarin dumped the puck into an empty net with 1:21 left.
Louis Domingue, the Rangers’ third-string goalie playing for the injured Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick, had 26 saves, his stops coming in bursts.
In the first, Domingue was tested only twice, with the Wild struggling to gain the offensive zone let alone maintain possession and deploy pressure.
As a result, the Rangers had the puck through the period and capitalized early, at 3:56, when a botched clear by the Wild landed on Vincent Trocheck’s stick, and he flung the puck behind Fleury.
The Rangers continued to pepper Fleury with shots, but he was airtight the rest of the first and earned a reprieve in the second when he and Domingue swapped situations.
Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Pat Maroon established a forecheck on the Wild’s first shift of the second, and that set the tone for the rest of the period.
After a 9-0 run in shots, the Wild received the game’s first power play and although they didn’t take advantage on their lone look of the night, they scored not long after when Faber’s point shot was tipped in by Brandon Duhaime at 12:33.
The Wild continued to control play until the third, Fleury making three stops the entire second, but then momentum switched allegiance again and the Rangers had the edge the rest of the way until the clock ran out.
Although Fleury remained at 547 career wins, five shy of passing Patrick Roy to become the second-winningest goalie in NHL history, he did move past Roy in a different category.
With 25,808 saves in his career, Fleury now has the third-most career stops. He trails Martin Brodeur (28,928) and Roberto Luongo (28,409).
In front of Fleury was a different setup on defense.
Zach Bogosian made his Wild debut after the team traded for him on Wednesday, acquiring him from Tampa Bay after sending the player he was replacing in Calen Addison to San Jose.
Bogosian wasn’t on the ice when the Rangers scored, dished out three hits, two blocked shots and put two pucks on net.