ST. PAUL, Minn. — They aren’t the Jets, Stars or Avalanche.

The Predators aren’t even the Predators of last season.

But a division win is a division win, especially inside the top-heavy Central, so the Wild prevailing 3-2 in overtime against Nashville on Saturday night in front of a whiteout crowd at Xcel Energy Center shouldn’t soon be forgotten — especially since the victory moved them into a tie for first in the NHL with the Jets.

Captain Jared Spurgeon broke a 2-2 tie only a minute into 3-on-3 action, burying a Kirill Kaprizov pass for his third goal in his past two games.

Filip Gustavsson finished with 25 saves after shutting out the Sabres 1-0 on Wednesday with a season-high 39 stops, the goaltender improving to 11-4-3.

Like the Wild, the Predators played Friday, losing in overtime to the Lightning before flying to Minnesota.

But unlike the Wild, Nashville didn’t start a fresh goalie.

Juuse Saros was back in net after the Predators traded backup Scott Wedgewood to Colorado earlier in the day. The busy weekend, however, didn’t slow Saros, who was sharp early en route to a 25-save performance.

He denied 12 shots from the Wild before Declan Chisholm’s slapper inside the blue line sailed in with 1:03 left in the first period. The goal, Chisholm’s first of the season, capped off an impressive week for the sophomore defenseman, who played in all three games after being an occasional healthy scratch and was steady in his own end (most recently next to Spurgeon with Jonas Brodin injured).

But Nashville retaliated on the very next shift on Fedor Svechkov’s first NHL goal, a one-timer off a cross-seam pass at 19:39.

In the second period, the Predators moved ahead on the power play, with Ryan O’Reilly capitalizing on a slick between-the-legs deflection at 2:29.

Kaprizov answered back with his own redirect on a Wild power play, the winger tipping in a Marco Rossi feed at 8:24 for his team-leading 15th goal and 37th point. The goal was also the 61st of Kaprizov’s career on the power play, lifting him past Mikko Koivu for second in Wild history; Zach Parise is first with 69 goals.

Spurgeon also assisted on Kaprizov’s goal after the defenseman scored twice to spearhead the Wild’s 3-2 comeback vs. Chicago on Friday afternoon.

Both teams went 1 for 3 on the power play.

Nashville had one of the more aggressive makeovers of the offseason, bringing in scorers Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei, after a stunning second-half turnaround last season pushed them into the playoffs.

But the Predators got off to a terrible start under former Wild player and assistant coach Andrew Brunette, who had Darby Hendrickson join his staff after the longtime assistant was fired by the Wild in May. Not only did Nashville drop its first five games, but the team has had multiple skids since.

Still, the Predators didn’t play like the second-to-last team in the Central Division, especially in a tied third period.

Not until Kaprizov set up Spurgeon for his fifth career overtime goal did the Wild finally hand Nashville its fourth straight loss, this after a clutch late stop by Gustavsson on Zachary L’Heureux helped extend the action.

The Wild are 4-2-2 vs. the Central Division, and the win matched idle Winnipeg’s 36 points for the top spot in the NHL even though the Wild (16-4-4) lost to the Jets on Monday.

Their homestand concludes on Tuesday vs. the Canucks.

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