Wild use 3-goal second period to beat Sabres 4-1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marco Rossi, Justin Brazeau, Mats Zuccarello and Frederick Gaudreau scored, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Saturday.

Comfortably in the Western Conference first wild-card spot, Minnesota moved within two points of third-place Colorado in the Central Division. The Wild finished a season-long seven-game homestand 4-2-1.

Filip Gustavsson improved to 6-2-1 in March by making 20 saves. He has a 1.65 goals-against average, a .941 save percentage and two shutouts this month.

JJ Peterka scored and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 17 shots for Buffalo, which lost its second straight game and is 3-8-1 in its past 12 outings.

Netting his career-high 22nd goal of the season, Rossi converted a pass from Yakov Trenin less than a minute into the middle period for his first goal in 12 games. Brazeau scored his first goal with the Wild about four minutes later. He was acquired from Boston on March 6.

Zuccarello converted a feed from Matt Boldy, who had two assists, to make it 3-0 before the period’s midway point.

Sabres: Peterka has goals in back-to-back games since returning Thursday. He missed three games with a lower-body injury.

Wild: D Jonas Brodin returned after missing the past nine games with a lower-body injury.

Gustavsson slid across the crease to stop Alex Tuch on an early Buffalo power-play and made a toe save on Tage Thompson a few minutes later to keep the game scoreless after his team was badly outplayed in the opening 20 minutes.

Per NHL Stats, Boldy’s two assists give him at least 60 points in three straight seasons, tying Zuccarello (2021-24), Kirill Kaprizov (2021-24) and Mikko Koivu (2008-11) for the longest run in Wild history.

Buffalo wraps up a four-game road trip Sunday at Winnipeg. Minnesota is at Dallas on Monday.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Minnesota Wild center Gustav Nyquist (41) skates with the puck against the Buffalo Sabres during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Buffalo Sabres left wing Jordan Greenway, left, and Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon compete for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello, left, and Buffalo Sabres center Peyton Krebs compete for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber, left, skates with the puck as Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (72) chases during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram (4) shoots the puck against the Minnesota Wild during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi is congratulated after scoring goal against the Buffalo Sabres during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild center Marco Rossi, left, and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram compete for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild right wing Justin Brazeau, left, skates with the puck alongside Buffalo Sabres defenseman Owen Power during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson, right, commits a hooking penalty against Minnesota Wild center Yakov Trenin, middle, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild center Yakov Trenin, left, and Buffalo Sabres left wing Beck Malenstyn get into a scrum during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello is congratulated for his goal against the Buffalo Sabres during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)