The Wild snapped a four-game losing streak, scored more than two goals in a game and at least lowered the rising temperature heading into the NHL's holiday hiatus by rallying for a 4-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.
Filip Gustavsson played for the first time in six games and made 28 saves for his 15th win of the season and the team's 21st.
Brock Faber, who had a first-period goal called off for a successful goalie interference challenge, snapped a 2-2 tie early in the third period, but Marcus Foligno's empty-net goal for a two-goal lead became the winner when Jason Dickinson scored with 33 seconds left.
Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon also scored for the Wild, who won for only the third time in the past nine games.
The Wild had totaled two goals in their previous three games and had two goals or fewer in five of their previous six. They had allowed 32 goals in their previous eight games.
But the Blackhawks are usually the Wild's tonic, and the Wild improved to 14-0-1 against them in the past 15 meetings.
Yakov Trenin, who played one of his best games of the season and had two assists, returned to the lineup from an upper-body injury.
Joel Eriksson Ek, who has missed the past 10 games, should return soon after the upcoming break. The Wild, like all NHL teams, are off Tuesday through Thursday and are not permitted to practice during the holiday break, so Friday's game in Dallas could be too soon for an Eriksson Ek return unless he plans to skate on his own during the break.
You could just sense how the Wild settled down with the return of their No. 1 goaltender.
Gustavsson had given up nine goals in two starts before his recent injury, but they've been especially bleeding goals since with Marc-Andre Fleury and Jesper Wallstedt in net.
Even though they were too loose at times, the Wild defended better than they have in most recent games and Gustavsson covered up some of the mistakes like Frank Nazar's partial breakaway in the first period or Teuvo Teräväinen stripping Declan Chisholm behind the net with five minutes to go.
He did get lucky with four minutes left when Alex Vlasic's point shot got through him and began trickling to the goal line, as Ryan Hartman swept the puck out of harm's way.
Prior to his lower-body injury, Gustavsson was tied for second in the NHL in wins (14) and third in save percentage (.922) and goals-against average (2.24), so his loss was felt on top of the recent injuries to Eriksson Ek, Trenin, Jake Middleton and Jakub Lauko.
In 34 previous games, the Wild had generated three goals with their fourth line on the ice: Lauko at Pittsburgh, Faber against Tampa Bay (during a fourth-line shift) and Marat Khusnutdinov's recent breakaway goal at Utah.
Well, in the first period Monday, Shore made a strong move to the net that ended up with Faber giving the Wild a brief 1-0 lead. Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen challenged for goalie interference and in a quick review it was obvious Jones had skated into the crease on his own and was draped all over goalie Arvid Soderblom.
That would have been the Wild's first goal since Dec. 12 without Kaprizov on the ice and their first even-strength goal since Dec. 10 without Kaprizov on the ice.
But Spurgeon tied the game at 2-2 in the second period off an awesome shift by the fourth line of Shore-Jones-Trenin.
Spurgeon saved possession, Shore hustled to beat the Hawks to the puck and popped it down low to Trenin, who set up Spurgeon's tying goal through Jones' screen. It was Shore's first point in 16 games with the Wild.
Shore was simply outstanding all game long. He moved his feet, created offensive chances (five shot attempts and a pass to set up Jones point-blank), blocked shots and made it clear that with Eriksson Ek soon coming back, he doesn't want to be the guy going back to Iowa.
He will likely be temporarily reassigned during the Christmas break with Brendan Gaunce as the Wild sheds cap space. But after Eriksson Ek returns, if there are no other injuries, the Wild may have decisions to make. Shore has already cleared waivers, while Jones would need waivers to get back to Iowa.
Spurgeon's goal snapped a string of 18 straight periods with the Wild having no goals without Kaprizov on the ice and 20 periods without an even-strength goal with Kaprizov not on the ice.
But Kaprizov did get the scoring started with his 23rd goal midway through the first period.
After Faber's goal was overturned, Connor Bedard scored his first career goal against the Wild in five games off a Mats Zuccarello turnover. But Zuccarello would redeem himself just over four minutes later when he forced a turnover and registered his 450th career assist on Kaprizov's tying goal.
Kaprizov's goal was his 56th in the calendar year, tied with Sam Reinhart for first in the NHL. It was also his 112th point, which ranks fifth.
Still, at the end of the night, the line had to feel a bit unsatisfied because they had the puck for much of the game and seemed to have their way with the Hawks in the offensive zone, but only finished with the one Kaprizov goal.