John Hynes didn’t plan on retooling the Wild before his first game behind the bench, but the team sure looked different in its new coach’s debut.

The penalty kill didn’t get scored on, two stubborn goal droughts ended and the Wild played with a poise that’s been absent much of the season.

But the biggest change was the result.

For the first time in three weeks, the Wild won, snapping their seven-game losing streak by dispatching the rival Blues 3-1 on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center to christen Hynes’ arrival with a long-awaited and much-needed victory.

Hynes, who replaced Dean Evason after Evason and assistant Bob Woods were fired on Monday, became only the third coach in Wild history to start 1-0; Mike Yeo and John Torchetti are the others.

Frederick Gaudreau’s first goal of the season late in the first period stood up as the game-winner thanks to an airtight performance by Filip Gustavsson the rest of the way, the goaltender turning aside 23 shots for just his third win and first in more than a month.

Gustavsson was especially locked in on the penalty kill, arguably the biggest eyesore of the season and a problem the Evason and Woods tandem didn’t fix before their departure.

The netminder stopped all six shots St. Louis registered on the power play, and the Wild penalty kill went a spotless 4-for-4 (their first clean effort in four games) after a clutch display in the third period. Matt Boldy was assessed a four-minute penalty for high-sticking, but the Wild denied the Blues the tying goal; captain Jared Spurgeon had a key shot block and Gustavsson made a timely save with the edge of his blocker.

Then with 2:52 to go, Boldy wrapped his 10-game goalless skid when he buried a breakaway.

The power play went 0-for-1.

The penalty kill was also tested early, with rookie Brock Faber getting whistled for a high stick only 22 seconds after the opening puck drop to give Hynes a front-row seat to the NHL’s worst unit. But not only did the Wild persevere, they quickly capitalized after they were back to full strength.

Although they didn’t get a shot off during a 2-on-1 rush, they kept possession of the puck and Joel Eriksson Ek sent a Mats Zuccarello behind-the-net pass past St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington at 2:41.

The goal was Eriksson Ek’s team-leading 11th and third in as many games, while Zuccarello’s assist extended his season-high point streak to seven games; overall, Zuccarello is up to a team-best 22 points. Only two Wild players have tallied more points through their first 20 games: Marian Gaborik (24 in 2005-06 and 23 in 2008-09) and Kirill Kaprizov (24 in 2022-23).

Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek setting the tone on offense isn’t a surprise; that’s the standard they’ve played at in recent seasons.

But the drop-off in secondary scoring had pestered the Wild all season, not just on their recent slide.

Gaudreau offered a glimmer of hope of that issue improving, too.

After Colton Parayko’s shot at 10:30 of the first slipped by Gustavsson, Gaudreau answered back for the Wild with 1:50 left in the period by flinging a wrister by Binnington for his first goal of the season and first point in his 10th game. Gaudreau, who missed three weeks with injury, had a career-high 19 goals last season.

The entire shift, though, was a throwback for the Wild.

After Gaudreau and his linemates Marcus Foligno and Pat Maroon moved into Blues territory, Jonas Brodin kept the puck in the zone with a shot that was deflected behind the net. Not one but two Wild players (Foligno and Maroon) were there to corral the carom and after Maroon retrieved it and sent the puck to Gaudreau, his shot narrowly eluded a Foligno screen in front of Binnington before crashing into the netting. Binnington finished with 34 saves.

That was just the third time this season the Wild led after the first period.

They won the last two times that happened, and they kept that trend going vs. St. Louis.