ANAHEIM, CALIF. – The Wild don’t just have the NHL’s top scorer.
Kirill Kaprizov lands atop NHL scoring list as the Wild defeat Anaheim to keep up torrid start
Three more points, on two goals and an assist, elevated the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov to the league’s peak.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 9, 2024 at 7:42PM
They also have the player tied for the best shooting percentage.
Kirill Kaprizov (another three-point effort) and Marcus Foligno (1-for-2 on shots) showcased their respective strengths in a 5-2 dismissal of the Ducks on Friday night at Honda Center that was a 33-save victory for goaltender Filip Gustavsson.
This lifted the Wild to 10-2-2, and they’ve won five of their past six games and nine of the past 11.
“The difference in the game was goaltending, penalty kill and opportunistic scoring,” coach John Hynes said. “I think that we won the score, but I don’t necessarily think we outplayed the other team.
“That’s what happens sometimes. You have to find different ways every night.”
After running away from San Jose 5-2 on Thursday, the Wild picked up where they left off, producing most of their offense in the first period.
Jake Middleton corralled a Joel Eriksson Ek pass and tucked a shot inside the near post 7 minutes, 31 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Just 1:40 later, Foligno eyed a pass to Middleton during a 2-on-1 but instead kept the shot for himself, burying his third goal of the season on just his fifth shot.
“Just trying to get off a deceiving shot, that’s all,” Foligno said. “Trying to shoot low and five-hole, great. But I think in the huddle I said I was going glove high, so it worked out well.”
Foligno, who last registered a shot in the 7-5 loss at Philadelphia on Oct. 26 when he scored twice, had one more attempt and sits 3-for-6 on the season for a 50% shooting percentage that’s tied atop the league.
“I gotta do more of getting myself in those areas and getting a good shot off,” Foligno said. “I think that’s something that you always gotta work on. … I know I have a good shot. It’s just getting in those opportunities to get open and get the release off.”
The veteran winger is now one point shy of 300 for his NHL career, and with a pass on the play, Frederick Gaudreau pushed his career-best point and assist streaks to six games.
Then at 12:32, Kaprizov flung the puck over Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal (26 saves) during a delayed penalty against Anaheim.
Early in the second period, Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm hooked the Ducks’ Trevor Zegras on a breakaway, and Zegras was awarded a penalty shot that he sailed over the net.
But the difference in each side’s execution didn’t match the action on the ice.
Anaheim kept generating quality offensive-zone time, and Gustavsson was airtight until 2:16 into the third period, when Robby Fabbri spoiled Gustavsson’s shutout bid with a blocker-side snapper.
“Our competitive level dipped a little bit,” Hynes said, “and then they got momentum from the turnovers and then we were under siege.”
But this was still a bounce-back performance for Gustavsson, who hadn’t played since the 5-1 stinker against the Kings on Tuesday.
He was especially clutch during a four-minute power play for the Ducks after Fabbri’s goal in the third.
“It’s 3-1 there,” Gustavsson said, “and if they get one, they’re just one shot away from tying it up. It puts more stress on us as players, but we’re out there blocking some big shots.”
Gustavsson’s seven saves shorthanded helped the Wild go 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
“We knew we needed that,” Gaudreau said, “and everybody got dialed in, focused, and we got the job done.”
In the aftermath of that four-minute PK, the Wild returned to the other end of the rink, with Kaprizov setting up Marco Rossi for a one-timer at 14:20.
That assist extended Kaprizov’s multipoint game streak on the road to eight games, which tied Nashville’s Roman Josi (2021-22) and Steven Stamkos (2017-18) for the longest road multipoint streak among active players. The last player with a longer run was Wayne Gretzky, who had a nine-game tear in 1990-91.
Kaprizov picked up his third point after nudging in a loose puck on the power play (1-for-2) with 2:16 to go for his team-leading ninth goal. But the Ducks retaliated on a deflection by Mason McTavish that bounced over Gustavsson with 13 seconds left before a postgame scrum that included a scuffle between Zach Bogosian and Anaheim’s Radko Gudas.
After his second straight and NHL-best sixth three-point game — no one else has more than three — Kaprizov leads in the league in points with 27.
He has two more points than Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon despite starting the Wild’s road trip four back of MacKinnon.
“He’s driving our team,” Foligno said. “That’s the biggest thing. You need your horses going, and like MacKinnon does for his team, if he’s not on every night, it’s usually not a great night for Colorado Avalanche. So, it’s no different.
“He’s our star player and when he’s going, the whole bench is going.”
The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, as they were cycling on a rural New Jersey road briefly appeared in court Tuesday, where the judge extended the window for prosecutors to seek an indictment.
