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Rangers top Wild

Dec 23, 2013 - 6:38 AM New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Carl Hagelin broke a tie in the second period and the New York Rangers went on to beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-1, at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Cam Talbot made 24 saves for the Rangers, who improved to 2-4-2 on their franchise-record nine-game homestand.

"We rolled four lines, each time playing very smart and simple," said New York head coach Alain Vigneault. "They were doing great things with the puck."

Jason Pominville had the lone goal for a Minnesota team that continues to struggle on the road. The Wild have dropped seven of their last eight away from home. Niklas Backstrom stopped 32 shots in his sixth consecutive loss.

Pominville opened the scoring 4:08 into the contest. He crashed the crease and directed in a pass from Ryan Suter to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Benoit Pouliot responded with a deflection of his own, tipping Ryan McDonagh's elevated pass in for a game-tying power-play goal with 3:52 remaining in the first period.

Seconds after the Rangers snuffed out a Wild power play, Minnesota defenseman Keith Ballard put the puck right on Hagelin's stick and he beat Backstrom high with 8:34 left in the middle stanza.

"Once they got that second goal, we just became a little flustered and weren't able to regain any momentum," said Wild forward Zach Parise.

The Rangers went up 3-1 when Derick Brassard circled behind the Minnesota net and whipped a backhand pass out front to Mats Zuccarello, who fired the puck home with 1:25 left in the second.

Chris Kreider added a third-period goal for New York.

Game Notes

The Rangers won for only the third time this season when the opponent scores the first goal ... Minnesota forward Mikael Granlund returned to the lineup after missing 11 games with a head injury.