Goalie Filip Gustavsson’s 18 saves and Marcus Foligno’s empty-netter preserved earlier goals from captain Jared Spurgeon, Frederick Gaudreau and Joel Eriksson Ek as the Wild moved to 18-5-3 on the road.

The only game the Wild have won with Gustavsson as the starter during that stretch was a comeback win over the St. Louis Blues, when he was pulled in favor of future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Gustavsson gave up two goals on 20 shots in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. The Wild led 3-0 after two periods, and while the Blackhawks made it interesting in the third, Gustavsson was able to protect the lead.

The Blackhawks dropped to 1-4-3 in their last eight games. They lost three of four in the season series against the Wild. Minnesota jumped in front on Spurgeon's wrist shot from the high slot 5:43 into the first period. Gaudreau made it 2-0 when he beat Petr Mrazek on the goaltender's glove side from a tough angle at 7:17.

Filip Gustavsson has been better than most people's expectations this year after finishing last season with a .899 SV% and GAA of 3.06. His 14.8 goals saved above expected highlights his surprising improvement,

Kaprizov had a couple scoring chances for the Wild (28-16-4), who were delighted to get their superstar back after he missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah (21-19-7) in what was just their second shutout win of the season.

Guerin didn't mince words in describing Minnesota's recent play during an intermission in Sunday's win over the Blackhawks.

In the middle frame, Chicago’s Nick Foligno was whistled for holding Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov, and complained a bit too forcefully about the call, drawing a second penalty. Minnesota made it 3-0 on the extended power play, as Eriksson Ek recorded his ninth goal of the season and second of the weekend.

It wasn't an overly convincing win, but the Wild got the job done against one of the worst teams in the NHL on Sunday evening. They started hot, then held on and were able to avoid blowing a 3-0 lead in a 4-2 road victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Jared Spurgeon, Joel Eriksson Ek and Frederick Gaudreau scored to help the Minnesota Wild top the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday night. Matt Boldy had three assists for Minnesota

Jared Spurgeon, Frederick Gaudreau and Joel Eriksson Ek scored to give the visiting Minnesota Wild a three-goal edge, and they held on to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday.

After allowing just five shots in the first two periods, the Wild had to scramble to keep the lead against Chicago in a narrow 4-2 win.