On a season-high five-game winning streak, the visiting Minnesota Wild will face an additional challenge of a short turnaround on Saturday when they face the host Los Angeles Kings.
The Wild turned a scoreless first period into a 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. Marco Rossi collected two goals and an assist, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy also recorded three-point performances and Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves.
The NHL-best Wild (40 points) have thrived on the road, extending their away points streak to nine games (7-0-2). Kaprizov has led that charge with points in 13 consecutive road games and now leads the NHL with 42 points in 25 games.
“The team keeps winning and it’s easy to play for myself and it’s easy to play for the whole team,” Kaprizov said. “You come to the rink and you love to come here. Everybody is smiling, joking around and having some fun. You go into the game and try to show your best.”
Minnesota’s five-game winning streak started the day before Thanksgiving at Buffalo.
During the streak, the Wild’s NHL best defense has given up an average of 1.4 goals per game. Minnesota has allowed an NHL-low 61 goals this season.
After a scoreless first period against the Ducks, Rossi scored both of his goals just over eight minutes into the second. Boldy tallied in the middle period, with all three coming in a six-minute, 29-second stretch.
Kaprizov had an assist on two of the second-period goals before scoring 1:21 into the third. He is the fastest to 40 points in franchise history, topping his own mark from the 2022-23 season by six games.
“He’s a maniac, he’s insane,” Boldy said of Kaprizov. “It’s fun to watch and it’s fun to be out there with him.”
The Kings also are on a season-best winning streak, stretching their run of success to four straight with a 3-2 victory at home against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
The Kings trailed 2-0 after one period, tied it in the second and got the go-ahead goal 2:22 into the third from Warren Foegele. It was Los Angeles’ first victory this season when trailing by multiple goals.
Foegele and Tanner Jeannot each scored and set up a goal and Joel Edmundson also tallied for the Kings, who are set to close out a three-game homestand before embarking on a seven-game road trip.
“They’re just hard workers,” Edmundson said of Foegele and Jeannot. “The way the game was going, it was going to be a couple of greasy goals, and they’re just around the net. That’s their game, and nothing too flashy. … Every team needs guys like that.”
The Wild and Kings played at Minnesota on Nov. 5, with Trevor Lewis scoring twice in the third period of Los Angeles’ 5-1 win. It was the Wild’s only loss in a six-game stretch and one of two defeats in a 9-2-0 run.
Lewis failed to score in the Kings’ next 11 games and went on injured reserve Wednesday with a lower-body injury. The injury-riddled Wild are missing forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello, as well as defenseman Jonas Brodin, among other key absences.
–Field Level Media
