The Minnesota Wild found relief from their rut with their most tried-and-true remedy: playing on the road.

Like clockwork, they left St. Paul, Minn., and immediately improved, using a strong start to hold off the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday night at United Center for just their second win in the last seven games.

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 to continue the Wild’s knack for spoiling home-ice advantage. Their 18-5-3 road record leads the NHL.

In fairness, Chicago is second-to-last in the NHL and had just traded one of its best players in Taylor Hall two days earlier as part of a blockbuster, three-team trade with Colorado and Carolina.

But after getting swept on their last homestand during two uncharacteristic losses to stay out-of-sync since early January, the Wild needed to turn the page, and the schedule worked in their favor.

This was the start of five in a row as the visitor, and the Wild were better from the get-go — establishing their forecheck and throwing pucks on net.

On their seventh try, they finally eluded Blackhawks goalie Petr Mrazek 5 minutes, 43 seconds into the first period when Spurgeon sent the puck past Mrazek’s blocker after a 4-on-2 rush for the Wild. Marco Rossi factored into the play to pick up an assist on the Wild’s past four goals, tying a team record for the second time this season.

Next up, Gaudreau received a fortuitous bounce for his second goal in as many games because his throw to the middle clipped the stick of Chicago’s Ryan Donato and slipped by Mrazek at 7:17.

The Wild finished the period with 11 shots compared with one for the Blackhawks, and the five shots the Wild faced through two periods tied the fewest in franchise history.

But as much as they had the puck in the second, the Wild capitalized only once.

During the tail end of a four-minute power play against Chicago captain Nick Foligno, who was penalized for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct after insinuating that the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov dove, Eriksson Ek tipped a Kaprizov feed at 10:45 behind Mrazek (24 saves) for goals in back-to-back games. The Wild finished 1 for 3, and the Blackhawks were also successful on the power play.

After Jake Middleton, who was stung by an Alec Martinez shot early in the second but continued to play, was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking, Seth Jones wrecked Gustavsson’s shutout bid with a top-shelf wrister 56 seconds into the third period.

That ignited Chicago, which scored again at 4:16 when Frank Nazar got on the end of a rebound of an Ethan Del Mastro shot during 4-on-4 action.

With momentum on their side, the Blackhawks went back to the power play, and that’s where Gustavsson came up clutch to fend off the mounting pressure.

Not until Foligno hurled the puck into Chicago’s empty net with 1:42 to go, though, were the Wild in the clear after another Blackhawks power play. Foligno also has two goals in his last two games, and Matt Boldy’s assist on the insurance tally was his third of the night.

Gustavsson, who was winless in his last five starts while giving up 23 goals, earned a much-needed bounce-back victory, and the lineup in front of him was challenged to reset.

Coach John Hynes benched forward Yakov Trenin and defenseman Declan Chisholm. This was the first time Trenin, who signed a four-year, $14 million last summer as the Wild’s most prized free-agent pickup, was a healthy scratch.

While Hynes noted the identity the team needs from Chisholm has slipped, Hynes mentioned Trenin has to be “harder on pucks in the offensive zone, using his size and strength, more physicality to his game, impacting the game as a power forward.”

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