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Minnesota Wild build lead, beat San Jose Sharks for 7th straight win

Apr 24, 2021; San Jose, California, USA;  Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello (36) controls the puck during the first period against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2021; San Jose, California, USA; Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello (36) controls the puck during the first period against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen and the Minnesota Wild held off a late-game push from the host San Jose Sharks for a 6-3 win on Saturday night for their seventh victory in a row.

Ryan Suter, Marcus Foligno, Jared Spurgeon, Kevin Fiala, Kirill Kaprizov, and Nick Bonino all found the back of the net for Minnesota, as Kahkonen made 27 saves.

Logan Couture, Evander Kane and Joachim Blichfeld scored for San Jose, the first NHL goal for Blichfeld. Martin Jones allowed three goals on eight shots before being replaced by Josef Korenar, who made 15 saves.

The Sharks’ losing streak reached eight games.

Suter gave the Wild a 1-0 lead 19 seconds into the game with a snap shot that coasted over Jones’ shoulder.

About 12 minutes later, just after Kahkonen shut the door on a Marc-Edouard Vlasic redirect, Minnesota took the puck the other way and Joel Eriksson Ek set Foligno up to make it 2-0.

Spurgeon’s wrist shot at 17:43 increased Minnesota’s lead 3-0, and Jones exited the game at the intermission.

The Sharks outshot the Wild 13-7 in the second period, but Kahkonen kept them. With 50 seconds remaining in the period, Fiala backhanded a rebound shot around Korenar to give the Wild a 4-0 lead.

The Sharks finally got on the board early in the third period when Couture he punched in Timo Meier’s rebound at 1:19.

Minnesota got that goal back on the power play when Kaprizov put the Wild up 5-1 at 4:28. Kane answered for the Sharks just 21 seconds later, closing the gap once again to three.

Blichfeld further tightened the margin by going bar down on Kahkonen at the 6:06 mark to make it 5-3.

However, Bonino buried an empty net goal with 22 seconds left to close out the scoring.

–Field Level Media

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