Jared Spurgeon scores twice as Wild beat Blackhawks, 3-2

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jared Spurgeon sure knows how to celebrate.

The Wild captain scored twice on his 35th birthday, leading the Wild’s 3-2 rally against the Blackhawks on Friday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center at the beginning of a three-game homestand.

Tied at 2, Spurgeon delivered the go-ahead goal with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left in the second period on a shot just inside the blue line that handcuffed Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek.

Earlier in the period, the Wild trailed 2-0 until Spurgeon and Marco Rossi capitalized only 17 seconds apart.

Rossi finished off a 3-on-2 rush, burying a Marcus Johansson pass set up by Kirill Kaprizov. Then Spurgeon tallied his first goal of the season on the very next shift, his throw to the middle bouncing in off the Blackhawks’ Connor Murphy.

Those were the fastest two Wild goals since Jake Middleton and Jordan Greenway scored in 15 seconds on Dec. 4, 2022.

Former Wild forward Ryan Donato had both of Chicago’s goals, the first coming on the game’s first shot after Donato pounced on a puck that deflected to him in front of the Wild net at 2:23.

His second arrived on the power play 5:43 into the second period during the first of three chances for the Blackhawks; the Wild went 0 for 2.

Mrazek had 26 saves, while Marc-Andre Fleury picked up 20 to win his fifth consecutive start. He’s 5-0-1 overall.

Marat Khusnutdinov returned after missing three games with a lower-body injury, but Jonas Brodin (upper body) and Jakub Lauko (lower body) are still out.

With 112 career goals, Spurgeon moved past Eric Staal for eighth on the Wild’s all-time goals list.

As for Kaprizov, this was his 300th career game.

Only Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid reached the milestone with more points than Kaprizov’s 366 among active players.

The Wild are back in action on Saturday night when they face off against the Predators for the first time this season.