Kirill Kaprizov collected two goals and an assist, Ryan Hartman added a goal and two assists and the Minnesota Wild extended their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov recorded his seventh multipoint game this season and fourth three-plus-point game. season. He ended the night with six goals and 11 assists in his past eight games.
Hartman stretched his points streak to a career-high five games and was initially credited with his 13th goal in the second period before a scoring change awarded it to Kaprizov. He scored late in the third and ended the night with 11 goals and eight assists in his past 17 games.
Rem Pitlick and Dmitry Kulikov also scored as the Wild posted their fifth straight home win and scored at least four goals for the 12th time in 15 games.
Defenseman Ryan Graves and Tomas Tatar scored for the Devils, who dropped to 2-5-2 in their past nine games since a three-game winning streak Nov. 6-11.
Minnesota goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen made 29 saves.
New Jersey’s Mackenzie Blackwood allowed a season-high five goals on 38 shots.
The Wild took a 2-0 lead in a span of 2:20 in the first period thanks to the combination of effective passing and forechecking.
The first goal came when Hartman made a long cross-ice pass through the neutral zone after getting the puck from Kahkonen. Kaprizov gained possession above the right circle, muscled his way past Graves and lifted a shot over Blackwood at 8:49.
The second goal occurred when Kevin Fiala chipped the puck from the defensive zone into the right corner behind the New Jersey net. Victor Rask pried the puck loose from Dougie Hamilton and forechecked Graves into a giveaway to Pitlick. Pitlick then eased his way through the slot and lifted a shot from the left doorstep over a sprawling Blackwood.
After Kaprizov lifted a rebound past Blackwood for a 3-0 lead 2:28 into the second, Graves fired a slap shot from the left point into the net 24 seconds later.
Tatar finished off a breakaway at 7:40 of the second to make it a one-goal game, but Kulikov easily deposited a rebound of a Hartman shot by Blackwood less than three minutes later.
–Field Level Media