Kirill Kaprizov scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and the Minnesota Wild held on for a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night in St. Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Jonas Brodin each finished with a goal and an assist for the Wild, who won their second straight game since the NHL All-Star break.
Reilly Smith and Sidney Crosby each scored for Pittsburgh.
The Wild celebrated “Marc-Andre Fleury Night” with a pregame ceremony and video tributes, and Fleury delivered on his namesake night. The veteran goaltender stopped 34 of 36 shots against his former team to earn his 553rd career win.
Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic took the loss despite turning aside 27 of 30 shots.
Minnesota opened the scoring with a power-play goal 12:57 into the first period. Kaprizov carried the puck into the offensive zone and slid a pass to Boldy, who looked toward the net and buried a wrist shot from the slot for his 17th goal of the season.
The Penguins pulled even at 1-1 less than three minutes into the second period. Evgeni Malkin passed the puck to Smith, who blasted a one-timer into the net for his ninth goal.
The Wild regained a 2-1 edge with 13:48 left in the second period. Brodin fished the puck out of the corner, took it toward the net and made a spin move before scoring on a forehand shot.
The play marked Brodin’s second goal of the season and his first since Oct. 21 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The veteran blue-liner was playing in his first game since Jan. 27.
Crosby scored on the power play to even the score at 2-2 only 61 seconds into the third period. He punched in a shot from near the front of the crease for his team-leading 28th goal.
Kaprizov put the Wild on top for good when he scored off a broken play with 10:26 remaining. It was his 20th goal of the season and his second in the last three games. He’s reached the 20-goal mark in each of his four NHL seasons.
–Field Level Media
