Barrett Hayton scored two goals, and the Utah Hockey Club pulled away for a 4-0 win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse also scored for Utah, which won its third game in a row. Nick DeSimone finished with a pair of assists.
Mats Zuccarello had seven shots on goal to lead Minnesota, which was held scoreless for only the second time this season.
Karel Vejmelka stopped all 26 shots he faced to earn the shutout for Utah.
Filip Gustavsson gave up four goals on 29 shots for the Wild.
Utah started the scoring 1:46 after the opening faceoff. Hayton parked in front of the net and redirected a long shot from DeSimone.
Keller scored on the power play to make it 2-0 in favor of Utah with 4:05 left in the first period. He carried the puck to the left circle and snapped a wrist shot into the net.
The Wild’s tough evening continued in the second period when Utah added another goal to increase its advantage to 3-0 with 5:46 left in the session. Olli Maatta flicked a long shot toward the net that was deflected by a Minnesota defender. The puck wobbled forward, and Crouse tracked it down and chipped it in from near the front of the crease.
The play marked Crouse’s first goal since Jan. 2 against the Calgary Flames.
Hayton struck again to give Utah a 4-0 lead with 18:12 to go in the third period. Gustavsson denied a long shot from near the blue line, but Hayton spotted the rebound and punched it in.
The sequence gave Hayton two goals on the night and 11 goals on the season. It was his first multiple-goal performance since March 27, 2023.
Kirill Kaprizov returned after an extended injury absence for the Wild and finished with three shots on goal in 16:39 of ice time. Jared Spurgeon also returned from injury for Minnesota and logged more than 20 minutes of ice time on the blue line.
–Field Level Media
