Wild beat Ducks, 5-2, behind NHL scoring leader Kirill Kaprizov

Kaprizov had two goals and an assist as Minnesota improved to 7-1-1 on the road this season

By John Shipley, Pioneer Press – November 8, 2024

The Wild’s Magical Mystery Tour continues.

Kirill Kaprizov had two goals and an assist to take the NHL scoring lead, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 33 of 35 shots as the Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks, 5-2, late Friday at Honda Center.

The Wild (10-2-2) killed nearly six consecutive minutes of an Anaheim man advantage starting at 7:11 of the third period, then added a game-sealing goal by Marco Rossi with 5:40 remaining as the Wild won their NHL-best seventh road game (7-1-1).

“I thought the difference in the game was goaltending, penalty killing and opportunistic scoring,” head coach John Hynes told reporters in Anaheim. “I don’t necessarily think we outplayed the other team tonight, but that’s what happens sometimes; you have to find other ways every night.”

Jake Middleton and Marcus Foligno also scored goals for Minnesota, which completes this three-game road trip Sunday evening in Chicago. Minnesota’s lone regulation road loss was Oct. 26 at Philadelphia.

Kaprizov has 27 points, two more than Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon, whose Avalanche were idle on Friday. Kaprizov has six three-point games this season, and points in 11 of the Wild’s 14 games.

Robby Fabbri and Mason McTavish scored goals for Anaheim, the latter with 12 seconds remaining, and Lukas Dostal — who started the game with the NHL’s third-best save percentage (.930) — stopped 25 of 30 shots.

Middleton put the Wild on the board first, his shot from the slot beating Dostal short side for a 1-0 lead at 7:31. Joel Eriksson Ek got his own rebound and pushed it to Middleton, who was skating through the circles, his goal set off a string of three in 5 minutes, 1 second for the Wild.

Foligno finished a 2-on-1 breakaway with Middleton, wristing a shot through Dostal for a 2-0 lead at 9:11, and Kaprizov scored on a delayed penalty from his favorite spot, the right circle, soon after. Instead of one-timing the pass from Declan Chisolm — his typical mode of operation — Kaprizov skated toward the net and wristed a shot top shelf to the near side to make it 3-0 at 12:32.

The Ducks answered with a hard, long push in the second period, but Gustavsson was at his best, stopping all 15 shots he faced, several during a long Anaheim forecheck midway through the period.

Gustavsson also got the better of Ducks center Trevor Zegras on a penalty shot late in the second period. Zegras was alone on a breakaway when Chisholm hooked him before he could get a shot away. On the free shot, he skated slow toward Gustavsson, who stayed with his opponent until Zegras settled for a shot that sailed high over the crossbar.

But Anaheim continued pressuring when the third period started, and Fabbri finally put the Ducks on the board, beating Gustavsson 5 hole with a snapshot to make it 3-1 just 2:16 into the frame.

The Ducks had a power-play chance at 7:11, their fourth man advantage of the game, after Matt Boldy was called for hooking Frank Vatrano in the Wild crease. The Wild killed the penalty, but as they cleared the puck to end the Ducks’ advantage, Zach Bogosian picked up a double-minor for high sticking Zegras at 10:48.

Minnesota killed all six minutes, and Rossi quickly put the Wild up 5-1 with his goal. In the first two games of the trip, the Wild’s kill is 9 for 9 — 6 for 6 on Friday night.

“Penalty kill was huge, all game, but obviously at a critical time in the third period,” Hynes said.