SEATTLE – If the 10-goal shellacking the Wild dished out against the Canucks at the beginning of the week was a five-course meal, the Kraken were served the sample platter.
Wild put on another scoring display in victory over Kraken
Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, Mats Zuccarello factored in four goals and Matt Boldy capitalized for the third time in two games.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 25, 2024 at 7:34AM
The Wild sunk Seattle 5-2 on Saturday night at Climate Pledge Arena in another dominating display by their offensive leaders that included Kirill Kaprizov scoring twice, Mats Zuccarello factoring in four goals and Matt Boldy capitalizing for the third time in two games.
“It’s been fun to watch,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. “Definitely good to have a little cushion back there.”
Not only did the Wild stay two points behind the Predators for the Western Conference’s second wild card, but they are three points ahead of the Kraken after winning three out of four games in the week — while racking up a whopping 22 goals — and going 7-1-1 since the All-Star break.
“We need every point we can get,” Marcus Johansson said. “Playing the teams we’re fighting with, obviously the games mean a little more, too. It was kind of one of those four-points games for us. It was a big win.”
After the first shot of the game, a one-timer from the Kraken’s Vince Dunn 36 seconds into the first period, eluded Fleury, he was almost unbeatable the rest of the way.
The other only puck to get behind him was a Jordan Eberle backhand that caromed into the net off Dakota Mermis’ skate at 6 minutes, 11 seconds of the third period.
“Just singing a little Taylor Swift. Shake it off,” said Fleury, who finished with 30 saves. “Don’t sweat it too much. It’s a lot of time to play, right? Like no panic. Just clean the crease and start over.”
Johansson started the Wild’s turnaround at 4:59 of the first period when his shot squeaked through Seattle goalie Joey Daccord for Johansson’s first goal in 11 games.
Then the power play took over.
Kaprizov stuffed a give-and-go pass from Zuccarello inside the near post at 13:32 during a 5-on-3 advantage before Boldy lifted in a backhander set up by Kaprizov and Zuccarello only 1:09 into the second period.
The Wild’s seven 5-on-3 goals are the most in the NHL (they had three during their highest-scoring game ever on Monday vs. Vancouver in that 10-7 jaw-dropper). Their 2-for-6 showing was also an improvement from the 0-for-4 effort against the Oilers the night before; the penalty kill went 5-for-5.
“Last game wasn’t good enough,” Zuccarello said. “So, it was important for us to at least get a goal.”
Boldy, who scored twice in Friday’s 4-2 victory at Edmonton, has seven goals over his past eight games, while Kaprizov picked up his sixth goal of the week and 26th overall 2:14 into the second during 4-on-4 action. Kaprizov cruised up ice before sending the puck by Daccord’s blocker to chase Daccord (nine saves) from the game. Phillip Grubauer made 17 stops in relief.
Over his past four games, Kaprizov has an NHL-best 12 points; his assist and point streaks are at eight games. Joel Eriksson Ek is also on an eight-game point streak — a career-high — after assisting on Kaprizov’s highlight-reel rush.
Eriksson Ek left early after getting taken into the boards by the Kraken’s Will Borgen but “should be good,” coach John Hynes said.
“I feel like we try to help each other on the ice,” Kaprizov said of his line with Eriksson Ek and Boldy. “Everyone pretty hard in the battles.”
As for Zuccarello, he added a fourth assist on Mermis’ goal at 6:58 into the second to become the ninth player in team history to post four-plus assists in a game. This was Zuccarello’s fifth four-point performance; he also had four points on Monday.
“If we score five or six every game,” Johansson said, “we should win more than we lose.”
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