Marcus Foligno recorded a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight) while Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov scored goals 11 seconds apart to lead the visiting Minnesota Wild to a 6-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
Zuccarello and Victor Rask each collected a goal and two assists, and Kaprizov, Foligno and Ian Cole netted one goal and one assist apiece. Foligno also won a fight with Nikolai Knyzhov in his big game for the Wild, who have won three straight games.
Rookie goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves for the win that runs his road record to a sparkling 4-1-0. Although he wasn’t overly busy, Kahkonen provided a handful of quality saves in the second half of the opening period.
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After San Jose’s Brent Burns opened the scoring with a highlight-reel-worthy goal just 45 seconds into the clash, the Wild regrouped and took the lead for good when Zuccarello and Kaprizov tied a franchise record for the fastest two goals in a road clash.
Zuccarello put the visitors on the board at the 7:49 mark when he converted a cross-ice pass from Rask, a tally created by a Sharks turnover in the neutral zone. Then Kaprizov tallied the go-ahead goal by completing a three-way passing play with a redirect of Zuccarello’s pass.
Cole scored his first goal of the season by joining a rush and converting from the slot to make it 3-1 at 3:36 of the second period, and then Foligno extended the lead just past the midway point when his shot went off the stick of Sharks defenseman Nicolas Meloche and bounded over besieged netminder Martin Jones.
Jones was pulled at that point, the victim of four goals on 20 shots, and replaced by Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 12 shots in relief.
San Jose’s Logan Couture collected his team-high 10th goal at 11:57, but a power-play goal by Minnesota defenseman Jonas Brodin restored the three-goal edge with 2:35 remaining in the middle period.
Rask added an empty-netter with 3:03 left in the clash.
Zuccarello, Kaprizov and Rask have combined for 14 points over the past two games.
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–Field Level Media