ST. PAUL, Minn - After the worst start in franchise history, Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon put together a players only meeting.

It came after the Wild’s fifth consecutive loss and seventh in their last eight games, a stretch that left them searching for answers. Spurgeon and the other leaders set an agenda to figure out how to dig out of the rut.

They were 3-6-3 entering Saturday — their worst October start in franchise history.

"I do. I think the big thing, where I give Spurg a lot of credit, was that it wasn't a random meeting after a game, right? He felt that the team needed to have a discussion with themselves," Wild head coach John Hynes said after Saturday's win. "I think it had a lot of substance to it. I think sometimes you can have a players meeting, and it's, whether it's emotional or guys don't think about it, but I think everyone knew there was going to be a meeting.

"I think he and the other leaders had an agenda of things that they wanted to talk about. I think sometimes in that setting, it was good where they can just be together and they can talk and really get to the root of some mindset things. I don't know exactly what was said in the meeting, but I think it was well done by Spurgey and the other leaders on the team."

The Wild responded with their best game of the season on Saturday. They held the league's top scorer to just one shot and picked up a much needed 5-2 win. They went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play.

“Our puck bounces the last couple games wasn’t really on our side. And the puck bounces today was on our side, and I think that makes a huge difference," Marco Rossi said. "I think the PK was good, Power play was good and five on five as well.”

Rossi, 24, extended his point streak to five games. He has two goals and five assists in that span.

The goal came on one shift that Rossi was with Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson. Hynes decided to put the trio together after putting Kirill Kaprizov with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy. The three delivered a great shift then Thatcher Demko made a save and covered the puck for a whistle.

They Wild kept the same three guys out there and Rossi one the draw back. Tarasenko fired a shot and Johansson tipped it off the pad of Demko and on the stick of Rossi who scored his third goal of the year.

Tarasenko, 33, who had gone the last six games without a point, picked up a goal and two assists in the win.

"I think so. I mean Vladdy’s a good, I think anytime a point producing player like him can have a game like this and get up and running and more confidence and feeling good about that aspect of the game is always positive," Hynes said on Tarasenko's game.

His goal came on the power play after Boldy got it to Eriksson Ek. The Wild center batted it with his backhand out of the air and somehow onto the stick of Tarasenko who made no mistake and cut across the slot.

"I was thinking about Ekky’s pass. I don't think I ever see anything like that," Tarasenko said on the goal. "But I'm not gonna lie, it’s nice getting goals, but nicer when team win, and some moments like this, we train a lot so sometimes when you don't think it's best chance to score."

Without giving too much away from Spurgeon's meeting, Tarasenko said part of it was to come up with an identity and play to it.

Last year's identity was "choose your hard" and this year it doesn't look like they were embracing that so they ditched it and came up with a new one.

"The message is find an identity of the team and you play more consistent," the two-time Stanley Cup Champion Tarasenko said. "When we go up and down, it's hard to play always, and keep the same plan, play long grinding game, try to eliminate turnovers and make other team work for the chances."

It is one game. But it is nice to see a game where the Wild played a full 60 minutes. A full 60 is just something that had not been seen in a long time. The Wild never trailed in the game and are now 1-0 in November after an awful first month.

“Yeah obviously that stretch we went through it’s tough but this is a new month," Vinnie Hinostroza, who had one goal and one assist, said. "We’re 1-0 in this month, if we just stick to it, we can turn this whole thing around. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work and sticking to the plan.”

Losing seven of eight games and five straight is never easy. It is a stretch that should only happen once in a season. I guess it is good that it happened at the start of the year. But the Wild will have to make sure it doesn't happen again or they will be in trouble.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 26-of-28 shots he faced in the win and talked postgame about how the team handled the struggles.

"We've been saying, we've been talking about, and still feel good about our game. But, as I said, you have to fake it a little bit. You fake it to the outside and show that you're confident. But it's a little nerve wracking on the inside there," Gustavsson said. "A win like this can change it and start building that momentum from the inside."

I guess it is true that sometimes you have to fake it until you make it. But now that the Wild have made it, they better make sure they don't have to fake it again.

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