Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov responded to being demoted to the third line by scoring a goal and dishing three assists Thursday as the Wild beat the Dallas Stars 7-2 in Saint Paul, Minn.
Sending a message to the Calder Trophy-winning left winger, Minnesota coach Dean Evason shook up the lines, splitting up Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello — the former having blossomed during his 27-goal-scoring rookie campaign while playing on Zuccarello’s line.
Kaprizov, who had three goals in 15 games before Thursday, was dropped to the third line centered by Victor Rask, who played for the first time after being a healthy scratch the previous four games.
Kaprizov started his four-point night by converting a brilliant pass from Zuccarello for a 2-0 lead late in the first period.
In the third, Kaprizov battled hard for the puck and banked a backhanded pass off the side of the net to Frederick Gaudreau — alone in front of goalie Anton Khudobin — for Minnesota’s fifth goal.
In the second period, the Wild built a 3-0 lead to set up their sixth win in the past eight games (6-2-0).
Zuccarello and Alex Goligoski produced a goal and two assists apiece, while Rask scored and had a helper.
Rem Pitlick and Ryan Hartman tallied for Minnesota, which scored five or more goals for the fifth time in eight games.
Defenseman Jared Spurgeon finished plus-5, and 12 Wild players found the scoresheet with points.
Minnesota goalie Cam Talbot (9-4-0) denied 36 of 38 shots.
Dallas’ Jacob Peterson and Jamie Benn scored. Khudobin surrendered seven tallies on 26 shots for the Stars, who lost their fourth straight against Minnesota.
Jake Oettinger relieved Khudobin with 6:08 left but did not face a shot.
Red-hot Pitlick — who recorded his first three NHL goals on Saturday in the Wild’s 4-2 road win over the Seattle Kraken — zipped around the right circle clockwise and wristed in his fourth goal from the left circle to open the scoring at 9:24 of the first period.
After Kaprizov made it 2-0, Hartman — the Wild’s offensive standout thus far — cleaned up a bouncing puck around Khudobin for his team-leading eighth goal with 61 seconds remaining in the second.
Following Peterson’s marker at 3:50 of the third, Goligoski fired a shot that clipped the skate of Dallas’ Denis Gurianov and beat Khudobin at 7:15.
Gaudreau, Benn, Zuccarello and Rask completed the scoring.
–Field Level Media
