Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists as the Minnesota Wild built a three-goal lead before holding on to defeat the visiting Arizona Coyotes 4-3 on Sunday.
Sam Steel, Jared Spurgeon and Matt Boldy also scored for the Wild, who have won three of their past four. Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves.
Kaprizov extended his point streak to nine games (five goals, nine assists). He has at least one assist in eight straight games, tying the Wild franchise record.
Nick Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse and J.J. Moser scored for Arizona, which has lost six of seven and is 4-4-2 on a 14-game road trip. Matias Maccelli had two assists, and Connor Ingram made 24 saves.
Crouse pulled the Coyotes within 4-2 when he scored from the slot with 3:18 remaining off a pass from Maccelli in the corner, and Moser made it 4-3 when he scored from just inside the left faceoff circle with 1:48 left.
The Wild took a 1-0 edge at 8:08 of the first period when a contested puck in the corner bounced off the end wall and out to Eriksson Ek. He passed to Kaprizov, who beat Ingram from beyond the crease.
Minnesota made it 2-0 with a 4-on-4 goal at 4:01 of the second period. Kaprizov back-handed the puck toward the net and it deflected of Arizona’s Shayne Gostisbehere in the slot, where Steel banged the loose puck past Ingram.
Arizona pulled within 2-1 at 18:36 of the second period when Schmaltz took a pass from Gostisbehere and fired a wrist shot through traffic from the high slot.
Spurgeon made it 3-1 when he lofted a puck toward the net from along the right wall and it deflected off Arizona’s Travis Boyd and past Ingram 36 seconds into the third period.
Boldy gave the Wild a bigger cushion with a power-play goal at 6:33, scoring on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle off a pass from Kaprizov.
–Field Level Media
