ST. PAUL, Minn. — Goals have been trickling in lately for the Wild, so just imagine what scoring twice in 12 seconds did for the team.
But the spark from this back-to-back burst didn't last, and Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby was the one to extinguish it.
His two-goal, three-point performance overshadowed the Wild's progress, setting the tone for a 6-4 win by Pittsburgh on Thursday in front of 18,224 at Xcel Energy Center that counted as a third straight loss for the Wild at the outset of a seven-game homestand.
With two assists and goal, this after opening the scoring in the first period, Crosby organized the Penguins' response to the newly formed line of Brandon Duhaime, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Foligno delivering two Wild goals on the same shift to erase a two-goal deficit.
Duhaime capitalized first, at 4 minutes, 31 seconds of the second period when he peeled off the boards into the slot and wired a shot behind Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry.
After a spirited celebration — that was only the Wild's ninth goal in seven games — the trio remained on the ice, driving play back into Penguins territory where Eriksson Ek jammed a puck in the crease that eventually bounced behind Jarry 4:43.
These are the fastest pair of goals by the Wild this season; earlier this year, on Jan. 14, Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello teamed up for the second-fastest two goals in franchise history when they converted four seconds apart.
(The Wild record is three seconds between Jim Dowd and Richard Park goals on Jan. 21, 2004, vs. Chicago.)
Eriksson Ek's goal was his first in 11 games, while Duhaime notched his first since coming back from injury the previous game. Foligno's assist on Duhaime's tally was his first point in seven.
Filip Gustavsson, in his first start since No. 1 Marc-Andre Fleury went on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, stopped Pittsburgh's Josh Archibald on a breakaway to keep the score tied, but Archibald would stay around the net.
He was the reason a Penguins goal later in the period would get disallowed, because he bumped into Gustavsson. That would result in a goaltender interference penalty and therefore Wild power play, but the Wild blew the chance.
Not even a minute into the advantage, Eriksson Ek was whistled for slashing after a clutch short-handed shot block by Zuccarello. Then during the penalty kill, Connor Dewar was called for high-sticking, leading to a 5-on-3 one-timer from Kris Letang with 1:40 left in the second that was set up by Crosby.
But Crosby wasn't done serving up offense.
Only 5:50 into the third, he stuffed in a backdoor tap-in on the power play to double Pittsburgh's cushion. He has 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points in 21 career games vs. the Wild.
That was just the third power play goal surrendered by the Wild in six games, and the unit went 3-for-5. As for the Wild's power play, both reconfigured groups combined to go 0-for-3.
The Letang goal nixed the hard-fought momentum the Wild established after falling behind in the first period on consecutive shots by Pittsburgh.
Crosby had the first tally, at 8:15 when he scooped up a neutral-zone turnover and sent a long-range shot by two Wild defenders and over Gustavsson.
That was the Penguins' second shot of the first and their third came with 2:57 left in the period when Ryan Poehling finished off an odd-man break.
Gustavsson totaled 25 saves and sits 1-4-1, while Jarry made 19 stops and picked up an assist.
But it was Crosby's strong start to the third period that hurt the Wild, especially since Eriksson Ek scored the Wild's fourth shorthanded goal with 8:37 left before Brock McGinn reinstated a two-goal buffer on another deep shot that eluded Gustavsson at 14:33.
Guenztel added an empty-net goal with 3:29 to go, his third point of the game, and then Matt Dumba answered back with eight seconds remaining.
