Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville (R) celebrates his goal with  center Mikko Koivu (L) and and forward Thomas Vanek (R) during the third period against the New York Rangers at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild win 5-2 over the Rangers. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

By Michael Russo/Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The Wild made the iron ring so many times Thursday night, it seemed players were collecting holiday donations in front of a Target.
The Wild overcame the maddening posts and crossbar behind Henrik Lundqvist with a third-period onslaught to break open a one-goal game and extend their point streak to nine games with a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild put forth another suffocating defensive effort. In his first start since getting hurt Dec 5, Devan Dubnyk made 21 saves, including one on a penalty shot 49 seconds into the game, and the Wild got two goals from Mikko Koivu and one each from Matt Dumba, Jason Pominville and Chris Porter to improve to 6-0-3 in its past nine games.
The Wild have now allowed nine goals in eight games since coach Mike Yeo’s Nov 30 furtive on-ice practice rant designed to “rattle the cage.”
The Wild’s power play has also come alive at home. One game after going 3-for-5 on the power play, the Wild scored another two on three chances Thursday.
Dumba scored a power-play goal in the second period and Koivu, who had a three-point night one game after a four-point night, sent Pominville in alone for a partial breakaway on a power play in a three-goal third for the winning goal.
Pominville had hit the post earlier in the period after Justin Fontaine and Jason Zucker did so in the second.
With the Rangers playing in Winnipeg on Friday, coach Alain Vigneault chose to give Lundqvist the night off and start backup, Antti Raanta, the former Blackhawk whom the Wild once pursued as a European free agent.
Raanta’s night was over by the 13:49 mark after Marco Scandella’s blistering, knuckling slapshot from the right circle struck him on the helmet protecting his forehead. Lundqvist, who was 15-6-3 with a 2.14 goals-against average and .933 save percentage, entered to play the rest of the game.
He was trailing 1-0 at the time after Koivu’s third goal in the past three games. After a slow start for both teams compared to the Wild’s pace during the first two periods Tuesday against Vancouver (10 combined shots in the first period), Thomas Vanek took a Zach Parise rim around the end wall and centered for Koivu, who backhanded his seventh goal of the season.
Koivu and Vanek, coming off four-point nights, are the Wild’s two leading scorers, respectively. Parise extended his point streak to six games.
Dubnyk was tested three times in the period. The first came 49 seconds in when Vanek turned the puck over, then hooked defenseman Keith Yandle on a breakaway. Yandle was awarded a penalty shot, and Dubnyk gloved it down, the 10th time a Wild goalie has stopped a penalty shot in 17 all-time attempts.
Later, Dubnyk made a couple dandy saves on Jesper Fast and J.T. Miller.
The second period played out differently. Things opened up from the outset as both teams combined for nine shots in the first 5 minutes.
The Wild hits posts twice, once after Fontaine’s shorthanded deke, once on a Zucker shot Lunqvist first stopped. That would have extended a 2-0 lead to 3-0, but instead, with 8.9 seconds left, Dominic Moore made it 2-1 after Tanner Glass freed a loose puck with a big hit on Ryan Suter off a forecheck.
That halted Dubnyk’s shutout streak at 165 minutes, 23 seconds - 1:26 short of his career high.
In between, Dumba did score a power-play goal by batting Nino Niederreiter’s rebound out of the air. Mikael Granlund also picked up an assist for his 14th point in the past 17 games.
It was also the third time in two games the Wild scored after Charlie Coyle draw a power play.