Kirill Kaprizov topped the 200 career-point mark and extended his home point streak to 12 games as the Minnesota Wild held on for their season-high fifth straight victory, 4-2 over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov finished with a goal and two assists. Mats Zuccarello extended his overall point streak to 10 games with a goal and an assist and Sam Steel added two assists for the Wild, who have won nine of 11 overall and seven straight at home.
However, Minnesota nearly blew a 3-0 lead after Ottawa’s Mark Kastelic bested Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson (26 saves) 4:58 into the third period, and Claude Giroux drove home a net-front puck, with Ottawa’s goalie pulled, to make things more interesting with 1:40 remaining in regulation.
The Senators outshot Minnesota 16-3 in the third, but Frederick Gaudreau’s empty-netter sealed the result and snapped the visitors’ four-game winning streak. It was only the fourth loss in the last 12 games for Ottawa, which also saw its 5-0-1 road run come to an end.
Ottawa posted nine power-play goals during the previous four contests, but went 0-for-3 with the man-advantage on Sunday against a Minnesota defense that was stout for most of the game.
Minnesota opened the scoring 8:19 into the game when Kaprizov one-timed a circle-to-circle pass from Zuccarello to beat Ottawa netminder Anton Forsberg (19 saves). The Wild outshot the Senators 11-5 through the first 20 minutes.
Just 1:34 into the second period, Kaprizov returned the favor to Zuccarello while recording that milestone 200th point in just his 167th NHL contest. Streaking with the puck toward the net, Kaprizov sent a back-hander to a trailing Steel, who found Zuccarello for an up-close one-timer and a 2-0 Minnesota lead.
Kaprizov was at it again with 10:33 remaining in the second, when he set up Jared Spurgeon, who made a nifty move in front of Forsberg to score his third goal of the season.
The Wild have won 11 of 12 over Ottawa, including the last six home meetings between the two clubs.
–Field Level Media