But the Wild climbed back to equilibrium before the period ended.
Jakub Lauko sneaked the puck between the post and Penguins goalie Joel Blomqvist (34 saves) with 2:57 left in the first and then 55 seconds later, Gaudreau flipped a Pittsburgh turnover over Blomqvist for his first goal of the season.
Only 1:38 into the second period and on his very next shift after his goal, Gaudreau polished off a breakaway set up by Kaprizov for his fourth career two-goal game.
Kaprizov was also the architect of the Wild’s next goal with 37 seconds to go in the second, the Wild’s leading scorer finding Mats Zuccarello for a redirect as Zuccarello crashed the net for a much-needed reset for the Wild.
Minutes earlier, the Penguins upped the pressure after denying the second of five Wild power plays that came after Brock Faber’s first NHL fight.
Faber got tied up along the boards with Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby, who assisted on every Penguins goal, and after the two’s shoving match ended with Crosby peeling away, Crosby’s teammate Jack St. Ivany came off the bench and fought Faber. St. Ivany received an extra roughing penalty on the play.
